Life and Love
by Rose-Petal-Falling324
Summary: The Majestics move in together in Paris to bond as a team. However, along with their posessions they bring drama, tradegy and love. Can their relationships survive? EnriquexOliver, RobertxJohnny.
1. Chapter 1

Here it is, version 3.0 of the first chapter of Life and Love. I haven't made any plot changes, just improved the writing so it will hopefully be more enjoyable. I will work my way through the other five chapters, hopefully nice and quickly, and then begin adding new chapters. Finally. Updated 22/06/2012.

* * *

"Owwwww!" Enrique nearly squealed as a box was dropped on his foot. "Johnny that's my foot!"

"So it is" Johnny said apathetically and shrugged before heading back to the moving van parked on the road to get another box, leaving the other one on the Italian blader's foot.

Robert had made the decision as captain of the Majestics that they needed to bond more as a team, which eventually led to the four deciding they should live together. The arguments regarding where they should live had been long and tiring but they decided on Paris, it being more of a central place and the city was loves by all four (although Oliver was the only one who would admit it).

The house itself was actually situated in the countryside near Paris so they would have easy access of he town but enough privacy that their wealth allowed them to have (just another of the great benefits of rich families). With 4 floors plus a large attic and basement, with 12 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a kitchen that every top chef would be jealous of and a living room which could probably fit three average sized ones in it, the team felt right at home even though most people would be very overwhelmed.

The Majestics spent most of the morning lugging their boxes and possessions into the house, gradually building a rather large pile in the entrance hall. After thanking the van driver and having short lunch of sandwhiches (made by Oliver, of course), the issue that Robert and Oliver had been trying to avoid for the past few weeks finally arose.

"You can't just call dibs on a room!" Johnny yelled in fustration. Enrique had wasted no time after lunch in claiming the largest bedroom in the house for him and Oliver, sparking Johnny's anger and the argument now taking place. Robert was attemtping to block the two out by beginning to sort out the boxes and Oliver, rather foolichly, was attemtping to diffuse the situation.

"Yes I can, that's how dibs works!" Enrique yelled back, trying to dodge rounf Johnny as the fiery red-head blocked the staircase from him.

"It's not a fair method." Johnny said but neither of the other three bought it; The Scott didn't really care about what was fair.

"You're just jealous and kicking yourself because you didn't call dibs first." Enrique said with the overriding smugness that seemed to come naturally to the Italian, which made Johnny bristle with renewed anger and Oliver roll his eyes.

"Does it really matter who gets the biggest room?" The French blader asked, although fully expected the response he got.

"Yes!" The two yelled back at him before returning to glare at each other.

"Well arguing doesn't seem to be helping, so why don't we think of another way to decide who gets it?" Oliver offered hesitantly. Both Johnny and Enrique saw the sense in this and stood down, although didn't stop glaring at the other.

"We could sit down and discuss it like civilised people." Robert suggested, fully accepting he couldn't actually ignore his teammates anymore, no matter how uncouth they were being.

"We could race for it." Johnny suggested himself, completely ignoring his boyfriend's opinion.

"Yeah." Enrique agreed enthusiastically and before Oliver and Robert could object the two were pushing and shoving their way up the stairs, trying to get to the room first.

-xX-Xx-

Latater, that night, when all the boxes had been at least placed in their right rooms, although hardly any were unpacked yet, the four bladers retired to their new rooms. Enrique smiled proudly as he observed his and Oliver's new room, the biggest one in the house, which he earned by beating Johnny in their race, even if the other insisted the Italian had tripped him. He bounced joyfully on the balls of his feet before bounding forward and wrapping his arms around Oliver's waist even though the greenette was in the middle fo changing his top.

"You are so lucky to have such an amazing boyfriend like me who'll win you the best room." He trilled, nipping his boyfirned's neck. Oliver rolled his eyes overdramatically and untangled the tanned arms from around him so he could finish putting on his night shirt. Enrique huffed and flopped backwards onto the bed to stare at the patterns in the ceiling while he waited for Oliver to join him.

Even now, Enrique couldn't really comprehend how wonderful it felt to know Oliver accepts his love and loves him back just as much. Enrique grew up admiring his father and his womanising ways, so he grew up with a similar attitude. From the start he knew he was attracted to both sexes, although he did focus mainly on the girls that flocked around him when his fame from blading really took off. He loved seeing the girls faces light up when he showed them affection and he loved being the centre of a crowd with everyone hanging off his every word, it balanced with his natural charisma. Although, all of this changed when Oliver came onto the scene.

Unlike everyone else Enrique set his sights on, Oliver didn't immediately return the feelings and this fascinated Enrique. Blading together quickly set up a friendship that seemed to be lacking with the other two members of the Majestics, but Enrique and Oliver grew quite close and eventually the latter did return Enrique's initial interest. Their relationahip blossomed and grew so quickly Enrique felt rather lost in the whirlwind of it and somehow he found himself on the other side, living with Oliver and completely over the moon about it.

Enrique watched Oliver as he applied his night cream, his usual nightly routine, but easily got bored so instead decided to annoy the other by tapping his foot against him. Oliver perservered through the annoyance at first but when Enrique's taps became more harsh he kicked back, halting them. He returned to applying his cream but not long after the tapping began again, so Oliver decided to give as good as he got and lunched at Enrique with a handful of his cream. He fell on top of the Italian and spread the cream all over his face, ignoring the protesting yells and flailing limbs. Eventually his laughing got the better of him and his attack failed, allowing Enrique to get the upper hand and flip them over, pinning him to the bed with his arms and precariously placed legs. Oliver giggles more when Enrique rubbed his cheek against his own, spreading the cream onto him as well. Soon the intimate position and affectionate nuzzling led to a deep kiss which left both males breathless once they finally parted. Enrique leant his forehead against Oliver's, enjoying the closeness for a while, before he gave the best seductive look he good and went for another kiss. Oliver pushed Enrique's chest the prevent the two of them getting lost in another kiss and tried to shuffle his way out from under him.

"I'm not going to bed or having sex with you with this cream all over me." Oliver complained, finally managing to push Enrique off him. He jogged to the bathroom and grabbed two towels from the shelf, throwing one to Enrique and using the other to wipe the major clumps off his face. Enrique's phone then began to ring, gaingin a glare from both bladers. The Italian reached for his phone, roughly scrubbing his face with the towel. "Whoever that is, it better be an emergency." Oliver yelled as entered the bathroom fully and turned the taps on.

"Hello." He drawled into the phone, not really concentrating, just deciding how to get rid of them quickly as possible, looking forward to finishing what he started with Oliver.

_"Hey Enrique."_ A chirpy, high voice trilled back. Enrique's eyes flew open and he sat up quickly, recognising the voice instantly.

"Eleonora?" He asked carefully, knowing he was right but desperately hoping it was anybody else.

_"Yes, who else would it be, silly?" _Eleonora chirped back. _"I haven't seen you for a while so I was wondering what you've been up to."_

Enrique was now in full panic mood, desperately glancing around the room for inspiration of what to tell his childhood friend. Him and Eleonora had been friends since they were first born, only a few days apart, due to their mothers' friendship. They had grown up together and she was the only female who flocked around him and he encouraged where there was no romantic interest at all. They had grown up very close, being more than just best friends and relying on each other in everything. It was only with his relationship with Oliver and his somewhat strange but relatively present friendships with Robert and Johnny (and a very annoying Japanese blader) that he was able to begin to pull away from his reliance on this relationship and the safety he felt within it. However, Eleonora had yet to find new relationships strong enough to give her her independance away from Enrique so she was still helplessly and hopelessly obsessed with him. Due to this, he had been really worried with how to tell her he was leaving to move to Paris, he did really care for her, and just realised he hadn't actually got round to doing it. He was living in Paris and his best friend thought he was still in Italy, could it be any worse?

"Who is it?" Oliver asks when he returns to the room, drawing Enrique back to himself and the phone call.

"Eleonora." He says in response, not bothering to explain to the girl, knowing she would understand it was Oliver he was with. He then returned to the phone, breathing deeply to prepare himself and keep his voice steady. "I've just been realy busy lately El, you know how things go? Listen, why don't I ring you again tomorrow because Oliver's here now, so we can talk then instead."

_"Yeah, that's cool. But you better have a good explanation_ _mister."_ Eleonora teased, using her best impression of Enrique's mother's scolding voice. _"Bye!"_

Oliver sat down beside him, picked up the discarded towel and wiped the cream Enrique had missed off his face. When he was finished he pressed a chaste kiss to the Italian's cheek then got up to put the towel in the washing hamper. Enrique flopped backwards onto the bed again, covering his eyes with his arm.

"I can't do this, It's too hard. How am I meant to tell her I'm living in Paris." He whined. "She won't understand why I had to move." He sat back up and threw his phone at the wall in fustration, where it connected with a bang. "Dammit!"

"I don't think she's that bad." Oliver said, standing in front of his boyfriend and cupping his cheeks in his hands, "She does have other friends and she can ring and visit. Give her a bit more credit."

"You don't know her as well as I do." Enrique said as he pulled Oliver on to his lap. "I love her, but she is that bad." He then silenced any response from the French blader by kissing him. He felt the shaking of Oliver's lithe body more than he heard the pleasing sound when his boyfriend laughed at his actions, and he couldn't help but laugh in return. He felt so giddy. The two were just beginning to move into a more comfortable position on the bed when they were interrupted by a bang from the bedroom door being flund open.

"Oi!" Johnny yelled at the two occupants, more to show his anger than transmitting any meaning. He was wearing a baggy top and a baggy pair of shorts and the tell-tale ruffled hair on the back of his head told ENrique and Oliver that he and Robert had also been christening their new bed. "I don't know what crazy games the two of you like to play together, just keep it down 'cause me and Rob don't really want to hear them." He spat out and slammed the door shut again before heading back to his own room.

"Jesus. It must have been a while since he's got some." Enrique joked, awarding himself a small smile before attempting to return to kissing Oliver. However, the other stopped him by covering his mouth with a pale hand.

"You don't need to be so mean. We're meant to be doing this living together thing to become closer as a team. That generally suggests being nicer to each other." Oliver said with a scolding glance to show he isn't happy.

"Come on, that's how we show our love, being mean and teasing each other." Enrique explained with a goofy grin and attempted to kiss Oliver again, but was again rebuffed. "Okay, fine. Tomorrow I'll apologize and make more of an effort to be nicer."

"Good." Oliver said simply before dropping hsi hands and allowing the previous actions to continue.

* * *

There we go. Hope you like it. If anyone's interested and haven't read the previous version the main change here is the relationship between Enrique and Eleonora, was originally romantic but isn't anymore.

Please review if you want to say something, anything, good or bad. I love hearing people's opinions.


	2. Chapter 2

Right, chapter 1 over and done with, and I'm quite proud of it, so straight on to chapter 2. Again, no major plot changes just a few tweaks to make it flow better and make it more interesting. Updated 23/06/2012

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The next morning the four Majestics congregated in the Kitchen for breakfast. Oliver had gotten up earlier than the rest of his team and taken a car over to his favourite pastry shop in Paris as he didn't feel like cooking that morning but couldn't just leave the team to eat plain toast and cereal. Although, he was rather upset that that was actually all they were eating. Enrique wasworking his way through a stack of dry toast, Johnny was practically slurping down a bowl of cereal and Robert had abstained from breakfast and was instead sat away from the others reading a newspaper with just a cup of coffee. Enrique sighed as his phone rang for the fourth time that morning and sent the caller, Eleonora, straight to voicemail. He knew he had to talk to her and tell her the truth, but he was dreading it so much he was trying to put it off for as long as he could.

"You need to talk to her." Oliver told him, having seen the caller I.D. from his seat next to his boyfriend.

"Was that Eleonora again?" Johnny asked, picking up on their conversation. He had received a similar telling off as Enrique the previous night from his boyfriend, encouraging him to be nicer to the Enrique and Oliver nodded in responce.

"I don't understnad why you're so afriad of telling her." Robert chimed in, folding up his newspaper and setting it aside. "Its very unbecoming." He added in his usual matter-of-fact tone.

"She's my best friend and I love her, but she's absolutely crazy." Enrique explained. "She could be so independent and so strong, but she's so caught up in God knows what that she won't let herself. So instead, she's obsessively reliant on the people in her life, one of those being me."

"It completely baffles me why anyone would obsessed with you." Johnny said flippantly before turning away from the table to put his now empty bowel in the dishwasher. Enrique sent him a rude hand gesture when he turned back round and the Scott bristled with his anger, his resulting attack on the Iatlian only prevented when Robert intervened and pulled him out of the kitchen. Oliver sighed and picked up Enrique's phone to place in his boyfriend's hand.

"Call her and tell her. You owe her the truth." He told him before picking up his cup of tea and leaving the room to give Enrique some privacy.

-xxX-Xxx-

Oliver joined Robert and Johnny in their new living room, which although fairly large, was quite cosy with the amount fo seats, bookcases and tables in it. While most of the house was still quite bear or unorganized, the team had spent yesterday afternoon makign sure the furniture in the living room was set up how they wanted it, although all their smaller items still sat nestled in the boxes they travelled in. Johnny was sat on the couch, flipping through the T.V. channels at such a fast pace Oliver found it hard to believe he could actually tell what was on each channel, and Robert was knelt at the side of the room going through one of the boxes. Oliver took a seat on the other end of the couch and couldn't help but glancing towards the kitchen door, wondering how it was going for Enrique.

"Is he calling her?" Johnny asked, throwing the remote down on the spare space bewteen them, leaving the T.V. on an international news channel.

"I hope so." Oliver replied simply, not really sure what else to say. He tried to turn his attention to the T.V., although the current story on the upcoming Beyblade charity tournament was not something he wanted to think about. The Majestics hadn't decided whether they wanted to compete yet or not and until the move it had been all they had really talked about.

Oliver had been the strongest voice against taking part in the tournament, not that he would mind if the others competing without him, but they all agreed it wouldn't be the same without all four of them. Out of the four members of the team, he was the one who was least interested in beyblading. That's not to say that he doesn't really enjoy it, because he does; its a big part of his life. He just has a lot fo other interests as well; his paainting, cooking, travelling and his relationships, particularly with Enrique. Although that becomes a sort of paradox since it was his relationship with Enrique that led him to enjoy beyblading.

He had had some interest in beyblading before he met Enrique, almost every kid has some interest in beyblading at some point, but although he was quite skilled it never seemed as fascinating as producing pieces of art or pleasing his family with his cooking. However, when Enrique came into his life, after a rather unfortunate incident at an even their parents dragged them to, he started to see lots of things in life, including beyblade, in a new light, through the Italian's free and open eyes. Oliver had known staright away that Enrique's interest in him was for more than just a friendship but his initial lack of romantic interest didn't hinder their connection and before long they found themselves as best friends. He wasn't sure what changed, but then one day he just realised Enrique meant more to him than just a friend. He had kept his change in feelings to himself at first, unsure what Enrique's response would be given his flirting and womanising ways, but eventually he couldn't hold it all in anymore and the happy, loving relationship he now found himself in was the result.

"The two of you could lend me a hand." Robert called from where he was now surrounded by books, picture frames anf other decorative items for their living room. Oliver and Johnny looked at each other for a moment before sighing and getting of the couch to help, but a sudden development in the news story caught Oliver's attention. Now he definately had to reconsider taking part in the charity tournament; could he really miss it if the Bladebreakers were getting back together for it.

-xxX-Xxx-

Enrique sat still in the kitchen for a while after the other Majestics left, just staring at the phone in his hand, not really wanting to make the call but he knew he had to. He proceeded to put it off as long as possible, doing chores around the kitchen like putting away the left over pstries and turning on the dishwasher, which he would normally have avoided but now seemed a hell of a lot more appealing. Eventually, he had to sit down and make the call. As the phone rang and he waited for Eleonora to pick up, he reconsidered calling now and was about to hang up when the phone was answered, but not by his nest friend.

_"Pronto."_ A deep, male voice answered and straight away Enrique could tell he wasn't Italian, just using the language, and not too fluently, so Enrique decided to help him out by using English.

"Hi. This is Eleonora's phone isn't it?

_"Oh , yeah, it is."_ Enrique could hear the relief in the voice, and the American accent (he didn't know Eleonora had a thing for Americans). _"Eleonora's just jumped in the shower. I'm Sam."_

"Hey Sam, this is Enrique."

_"Oh, Enrique." _Sam with a tell tale smugness in his voice.

"Gues you've heard of me." Enrique couldn't help but laugh a little, Eleonora was so predictable._  
_

_"Yeah, El barely stops talking about you. Oh hang on she's here now, I'll put her on."_

"Alright, see ya." Enrique said simply, realising the unconfortable quessieness was returning now he had to talk to the Italian girl.

_"Enrique?" _Eleonora's voice came over the phone, as chirpy and happy as usual. _"I wasn't expecting you to call this early."_

"I just wanted to get this over and done with." He said but immediately regretted the way he put it.

_"Jesus Enrique, I didn't realise I was such a drain on your time."  
_

"Oh God no, I didn't mean it like that Eleonora" Enrique sighed and rubbed his eyes with his free hand, trying to think of a way to word what he needed to say. "I haven't been able to see you lately because me and the team have decided to live together." He closed his eyes and waited for what he was sure was going to be an onslaught of yelling and insults._  
_

_"That's a great idea!" _Eleonora replied, shocking Enrique enough he physically jumped a little. _"Where are you going to live?"_

"France, I'm actually there now..." He began to tell her, but she interrupted him before he could finish.

_"Oh my God, I'm in France now!" _Eleonora yelled down the phone, shocking Enrique so much that everything else he was going to say was pushed out of his mind. _"I got a flight last night after we talked to my Aunt's cottage. That's actually where Sam came from, I met him on the plane."_ There was a hint of embarrassment in her voice, but also a trace of pride. _"Are you looking ta houses now? Is that why you're here?"_

"No, actually we've done all that. We moved in yesterday." Enrique said confidently, sure by Eleonora's reaction that she was fine with it all, but he was wrong.

_"I'm sorry, you've already moved in?" _Her tone was no longer happy and chirpy, it was now dull and flat, boardening on dangerous. Yet Enrique didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, and I'm so glad you're okay with all this."

_"Okay? Okay?" _Now Enrique was beginning to notice the change in his best friend. _"I am not okay with all this at all."_

"But you just said you thought it was a great idea."

_"It is, but I'm not alright with you making such a giant change to your life and not even telling me about it till now. It's nice to fianlly find out how little I actually mean to you!" _Eleonora practically screamed down the phone at Enrique. _"You couldn't even find the time to send me a text or something."_

"Eleonora, please..."

_"No. Fuck you, Enrique. Fuck you."_

-xxX-Xxx-

Enrique spent the rest of the day beating himself up for upsetting Eleonora and handling the situation badly. Oliver tried to convince him it couldn't have been that bad, Johnny laughed and made jokes every time he saw him and Robert refused to get involved, commenting on how overdramatic the whole situation was. After spending most of the day unpacking boxes (and analysing Enrique's situation), the team were now relaxing in the nearly finished living room. Nearly finished as they managed to get everything up and arranged but a moment of extraordinary clumsiness from Johnny after they were finshed brough down two pictures and a whole book case, which they decided they would put back up tomorrow. Enrique was laid on the living room floor flipping through a beybalding magazine, Oliver was curled up in a comfy armchair pretending to sketch some random scenery but really outlining his boyfriend's figue, Robert was sat on one side on the couch reading a heavy and dusty book and Johnny was laid with his head on the German's lap playing games on his phone when a knock at the front door drew all their attention.

"We've been her for two days, who the hell is visiting?" Johnny asked, sitting up but making it clear he wasn't moving to answer it.  
Oliver, from his armchair which was very close to the window, peaked round the closed curtains to see who it was without having to move, something he wouldn't normally do and that he knew would get him a lecture in manners and not being lazy from Robert.

"Oh my God, it's Eleonora." He hissed under his breath, diving away from the window. He wasn't sure why he was whispering and movign away, there was no way she could hear or see him. Enrique jumped up from his position on the floor in a wild panic.

"No, no, no, no. What do I do?" He asked, looking around desperately, and then leaping across the room to stop Robert who had begun to move to answer the door.

"You may want to flail around for a while and leave the poor girl stood outside all night, but I will not be that rude." Robert told him pointedly, tryign to jank his arm free unsuccessfully.

"You guys have to help me." The Italian begged. "Do you want my blood on your hands? Because she will kill me, I swear she will."

"I think I have a plan." Johnny suddenly announced, jumping of the couch. Both Robert and Oliver looked sceptical but Enrique was ready to go for anything.

-xxX-Xxx-

Eleonora was stood outside the Majestics' new house for abou ten minutes before the door was finally answered. She had spent the whole day in her Aunt's cottage fuming over Nerique and his completel lack of respect for her and their friendship. She flipped between wanting to fly straight home to get away from Enrique and going directly to Enrique's new house (she called his parents, who she's good friends with, and got the address) and ripping his tongue out of his throat. Eventually, her internal conflict only acheived making her angrier with the idiot blond so she threw on her coat and marched over to the house, leaving her curly blond hair a mess and her pale skin make-up free. So, by the time the door was opened and she was let in by Robert she was almost ready to explode.

"Enrique's just popped out with Oliver and Johnny, he should be back soon." The German told her in curteous manner, although Eleonora thought she could sense a nervousness underneath it.

"I really don't care anymore" Eleonora replied, too herself as much as to Robert. The second the door shut behind her built-up anger just dispersed, leavign her feeling exhausted and upset. She collapsed on the couch after Robert had shown her to the living room and watched as he sat down on an armchair on the other side of the room.

"So, what brings you to France?" Robert asked pleasantly, falling back on the politeness that had been instilled in him from an early age, although his unnatural tapping foot just further showed Eleonora there was something off.

"Visiting family." She answered simply, not really up for a conversation. She turned her head so it appeared like she observing the room, but she was watching Robert out of the corner of her eye. He was very tense.

"Listen, Eleonora, I've been meaning to talk to you about something." Robert got up from his seat and sat next to the Italian girl instead. Uncomfortable, she scooted so she was as far away from the Majestics captain as possible only to be shocked when he also scooted over. She eyed him warily.

"Erm...Robert what are you doing?"

"I know we haven't known each other long, but I think we've got a real connection." Robert began, more interested in looking at his hands than at the Italian girl. They were both silent for a while and Eleonora grew more and more uncomfortable.

"Robert, are you coming on to me?" She asked, not seeing any other explanation for the German's actions. She always slightly liked Robert more than Johnny and Oliver (even though her best friend was dating the latter) and he was rather attractive, but she had never really felt anything romantic for him. Buy maybe he wasn't looking for something romantic either.

"No..." Robert began to protest, waving his hands in front of him to create space between them, but before he knew it, he was on his back on the couch with Eleonora on top of him and their lips crashed together. He was sure he heard something smash and then bang before a voice yelled at them from across the room.

"Oi, get off my boyfriend"

* * *

Same cliffhanger as old chapter so until I updat ethe next one it should still lead on okay. One of the longest chapters I've written for fanfiction, I'm quite proud of myself.

Please review to let me know what you think. I'm particularly interested if anyone read the old version and this one, love to know any opinions on the changes.


	3. Chapter 3

Two chapters down in rather good speed for me so straight on with chapter 3. Again, no major plot changes from older version but just made more interesting and written better.

* * *

**Previously**

_"Robert, are you coming on to me?" She asked, not seeing any other explanation for the German's actions. She always slightly liked Robert more than Johnny and Oliver (even though her best friend was dating the latter) and he was rather attractive, but she had never really felt anything romantic for him. Buy maybe he wasn't looking for something romantic either._

_"No..." Robert began to protest, waving his hands in front of him to create space between them, but before he knew it, he was on his back on the couch with Eleonora on top of him and their lips crashed together. He was sure he heard something smash and then bang before a voice yelled at them from across the room._

_"Oi, get off my boyfriend"_

**Now The Conclusion**

Eleonora and Robert looked at Johnny in horror as he stood at the living room entrance arch with his hands on hips and so furious he was bright red.

"Wait, boyfriend? You two are together?" Eleonora asked, although she didn't need confirmation from either bladers. She suddenly felt as though the whole world had landed on top of her, Enrique had never told her his two teammates were in a relationship, and she had never seen it; they weren't particularly affectionate with each other. "I am so, so sorry. Oh God. I didn't know, I swear I didn't know" She ran her hands through her hair and shook he head, as if trying to deny to herself that what happened had actually happened.

"You didn't know?" Robert asks softly, having recovered from Eleonora jumping him. He ignored the Scott's indignant stare at him being pleasant to her, Robert believed she didn't know they were together, so he couldn't really be angry. "Enrique really seperates you from this team, doesn't he?" Robert and Eleonora looked at each other directly, their eyes boring into each other, and Robert realised maybe his words about a connection weren't as made up as he thought they were.

"Hello, I am still here." Johnny interrupted. Eleonora shot him another apolegetic look and prepared to begin properly begging for his forgiveness, but the blader waved it off. "Don't worry, I get it. You didn't know. Plus, its not like I don't see the attraction as well." His attempt at humour fell flat in the still tense atmosphere of the room as the three occupants shigted awkwardly and tried to find footing with each other.

"I hate this." Eleonora announced suddenly, running her hand through her hair again. "I hate Enrique for doing this to me."

"I don't think he meant, or wanted to." Robert explained, trying to help the girl who he now felt very sorry for. "I have to admit he is usually as rude and childish as that, but he's never malicious. He has spent a lot of time openly worrying about you and your reaction to the move."

"I don't care, he still did it." She sat back down on the couch and dropped her head forward into her hands. She was completely fed up. However, it was then that she realised something, she still had no idea what Robert was doing before she misread his intentions. Her head flew back up quickly, shocking Robert and Johnny, and she glanced between both warily. "So, if you weren't coming on to me, then what were you doing?"

The two bladers glanced at each other with guilt - guilt for Enrique's terrible traetment of Eleonora and guilt for their attempt to trick her. Robert sat back down on the couch as well, remembering his mother's advice that being on the same level as someone makes them more comfortable, and motioned for Johhny to join him. The Scott hesitated for a moment before moving to perch on the arm beside him, not really sure why he was being pressured to sit. The German took it upon himself to explain.

"Enrique was worried what would happen when you turned up, so Johnny came up with a plan..."

"Hey, don't blame all this on me!" Johnny yelled, defending himself more because he felt really guilty about his 'brilliant' idea now.

"Okay, lets not blame Johnny, but I'm still in the dark here." Eleonora said in an exhausted voice and large gesture with both hands to punctuate her words, pulling the two males attention from each other and back to her.

"Sorry." Robert said politely, again falling back on to his manners while Johnny just shrugged and looked away from the other two occupants. "Johnny came up with a plam, which we all agreed with, that while Enrique and Oliver snuck out the back. I would distract you with some big tale, shocking enough that you would hopefully forget your anger towards Enrique for a while."

"What was the tale going to be?" Eleonora asked reluctantly, her curiosity getting the better of her even though her anger was starting to return.

"I was just just going to make up some relationship troubles with me and Johnny." Robert answered rather too quickly, which Eleonora picked up on along with the quick glance the German sent to his partner, telling her he wasn't telling the truth. However, she decided to let it go as the two of them had been really understanding with her and she was too exhausted to get involved anymore.

"Well, that's just wonderful." She said to no one in particular. "I'm going home." She announced suddenly, springing out off her seat, shockinh herself and the other two occupants of the room. She quickly walked towards the door, finding herself overcome with a desire to get away from anything 'Enrique', or 'Majestic', or 'Beyblading'. She would leave the house, the city,or the country even, till she felt far enough away. As she walked, she was closely followed by Robert who wanted to ensure she got proper farewell as he had been taught to extend to everyone, while Johnny trailed behind reluctantly.

"We're really sorry." Robert spoke for him and Johnny, getting a grunt in agreement from the red-haired Scott. "I don't know why I acted so rudely, I guess I probably got caught up in Enrique's paranoia."

"Don't bother apologizing; you messing me around tonight is at the bottom of a long list of effences against me by Enrique and my family in the past few days." Eleonora told him, waving her hand in the air to metaphorically wave away the apology. Robert was shocked by her blatant confession of her personal problems with her family, whereas he had been schooled to keep all personal issues to himself from everyone but those whom they concern. She waved again as a parting and walked into the darkness leaving Robert and Johnny alone in the rectangle of light from the door, shocked by the fleeting visit of the Italian girl.

-xxX-Xxx-

Eleonora returned to her Aunt's cottage just past midnight. She was relieved that her Aunt had left that day to return to work in Italy and Sam was returning home to America, leaving to get his plane just nefore she headed over to the Majestics' house. That left just her and her cousin Angelo in the house. Although she felt she couldn't deal with anyone else right now, Angelo was a different story. Enrique was definitely her best friend - they spent much more time togehter, they had much more in common and they had the same erratic, unrealistic view on life - but Angelo, while they weren't as close - seeing each other less, being practicually polar opposites and him having a more objective, realistic view - he was her confidante and the person she leaned on.

"Hello?" She called through the house, checking if her cousin was still awake or not. When she got no response, confirming that he was asleep, she hung her jacket on a peg and kicked her heels off, rubbing her ankles to relieve some of the pressure gathered their as she did so. Sher made her way out of the entrance way and into the living room, smiling to herself when she found her blonde cousin laid out asleep on the settee. Eleonora spread a blanket over Angelo before switching off the muted T.V. and heading up to bed.

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Okay, that took a lot longer than I expected. I got rather sidetracked again, sorry. Luckily, I got a review at just the right time to get me motivated again. So - hint, hint - reviews do help get me working.


	4. Chapter 4

Trying to pick up the pace again to get these updated - again no major story changes, just improved writing and story; I'm actually going to use a fair amount of what was in the original chapter for this updated version - so I can get on with some new stuff.

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There was white. White. And nothing else...

Amongst the white, black began to appear. A small dot, steadily getting larger and larger. Soon there was more black then white, and then there was only black, no white.

There was black. Black. And nothing else...

Robert awoke with a start from his very unusual dream. He looked to his left and saw his boyfriend still fast asleep, hanging of the edge of the bed. The German chuckled to himself before dismissing the dream and settling back down to sleep.

-xxX-Xxx-

"Robert! I said are you okay?" The German looked around to see Oliver looking at him worriedly over his morning coffee. The four Majestics had agrred as part of their team bonding that they would have breakfast together each day, and so far there had been no issues. However, all four of them were waiting on edge for it to blow up in their faces.

"I'm sorry Oliver, I'm just a little tired"

"Really? Were you up last night? I didn't feel or hear anything." Johnny stated from next to him at that table through a mouthful of bacon.

"Yeah, well when you go to sleep, you sleep so deeply I'm surprised anything less than pounding sex from Robert wakes you up" Enrique ssid flippantly but with a sly smile, showing he knew he was provoking the Scott. Johnny growled but otherwise ignored the Italian's comment, showing more maturity than his teammates thought he had.

"I just had a weird dream that woke me up." Robert explained, but didn't reveal how much the dream had actual knocked him out of place.

"Why didn't you tell me about it earlier." Johnny almost whined. The fact he was actually touching on his and Robert's relationship issues and his earnest stare directed towards his boyfriend showed Enrique and Oliver how on edge he was.

"It isn't that big of a deal." Robert tried to explain away, picking up his newspaper again, attempting to show he was done with the conversation as he wasn't comfortable being this open in public. Oliver respected this and tried to look busy with cleaning the table but Enrique shamelessly observed the two like they were on display in a circus.

"It isn't that big of a deal to tell me, but its enough of a deal that you need to tell Oliver!" Johnny shouted, not ready to let the issue drop.

"Maybe he just wants to talk to someone with more sensitivity than a spanner..."

"Shut it, Enrique!" Johnny screamed at the Italian, shocking the thre other bladers. Normally, seeing his teasing was actually upsetting the Scott, Enrique would be even more motivated to push him further, but this time seeing Johnny's eyes darting around crazily and his hand beginning to shake, out of concern Enrique did stop.

"Right Ollie, lets go for a walk or something?" The blond blader announced, darting up and practically sprinting out of the kitchen. Oliver nodded unthusiastically and threw the tea towel he was holding on the table before leaving quickly after his boyfriend, leaving Robert and Johnny alone.

"Are you okay?" Robert asked calmly, his attention solely focussed on Johnny now. He placed his hand tentatively over one of Johnny's and tried to get him to look at him. He felt a sting when the hand was pulled from under his but this quickly replace with shock when Johnny brough his fist down onto the table, catching and smashing a glass on the way and cutting his hand.

"Calm me down please?" The Scott asked his boyfriend, hunching over as his shoulders alos began to shake. Robert took a moment to considered what to say.

"I'm scared I'm going to loose you."

Johnny was stunned at Robert's comment and forgot all about his anger. Without a second thought he lunged towards the German and pressed his lips to his, no thinking, just feeling like he had to show how much he loved the Majestic's captain. Robert's muscles reacted from instinct and he kissed back, barely realising when Johnny slipped from his seat to get close, but then became aware of what was happening and pulled away.

"I'm being serious; I don't want to loose you."

"I'm being serious as well, I'm showing you I'm not going anywhere." After he finished talking he tried to kiss the older blader again but was pushed away. "Some people might think you want to loose me if you won't kiss me!" He complained, knowing he sounded rather childish and the logic didn't really add up, but his anger was returning.

"I'm trying to talk seriously here and I want you to listen to me. Not everything can be solved by kissing it away." Johnny looked at Robert in confusion and tilted his head a bit to show that he was listening. "Our relationship isn't a proper relationship. Everything in our relationship is driven by lust but I don't want that. I see people like Oliver and Enrique and I can see the love between them." Robert ran his hand through his hair and shook his head trying to calm himself down before he got fustrated.

"I love you." Johnny stated simply in a quiet voice. He was trying to hide the fact that Robert had just hurt him with his words but the German saw through it.

"I know you love me, but only when you tell me. And you only know I love you when I tell you, we need to show that we love each other more or what's the point of having this relationship." Robert finished, not expecting much response but still hurting when Johnny just left the room, leaving him to his thoughts.

He had never been a social person. Yes, he was polite and could charm anyone but that was just how he was raised. From a young age he felt no connection to anyone around him, not even his parents properly. He enjoyed their company, learnt a lot from them and even 'loved' them on some level because they were family. He grew up thinking everyone was pleasant and polite to each other, but always put on a front to hide any real emotion as he never saw anything different. That's how his family treated each other, that's how the guests at his parent's parties treated each other and that's how began to treat everyone as well. Then he met Johnny. And his whole world changed.

From the second he first met the hot-headed, bad-tempered Scott, his simple, structured thoughts and views beame a jumbled mess in his head. Johnny was the first person Robert had felt any real connection to, experiencing the strongest feelings of joy and hatred he had ever felt, both directed to the blader. His feelings for Johnny quickly developed leaving Robert even more confused and lost in his own mind. He had no idea if Johnny felt the same as he never dared to show his emotions, as he always had, but then one evening in the middle of a chess game he and Johnny both gave into their lust, and so began their mainly sexual relationship. Now, from that unusual start, Robert finds it natural to just slip back into just lust, particularly as he was still reluctant to show and give in his emotions, but he really doesn't want to. He now realises he wants more.

-xxX-Xxx-

Oliver and Enrique left the house quite quickly after Johnny's little episode. They walked through the town in Paris, up and down the Eiffel Tower and were now heading towards the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, the largest opera house in the city. When they were walking through the town, they held hands, when they went up the tower, they raced and when they started walking again, Enrique wrapped his arm around Oliver's waist.

"Remind me again why we're going to see a street?" Enrique asked looking in the closest shop window and checking himself out. Oliver laughed at kept on walking, leaving Enrique to run after him to catch up.

"We're going to the Avenue des Champs-Élysées because it's a big part of Pairs and even though you've been to Paris hundreds of times you've never been." Oliver explained when Enrique had caught up again. "You have no appreciation of culture at all. Maybe if you experienced more culture then you would see how important it is to..."

The greenette trailed off when he realised Enrique had stopped walking again. He turned round and saw his boyfriend staring at a café across the street. All Oliver had to do was glance at one of the outside tables to realise why. On one of smallest green, iron tables sat a very pretty blond, if Oliver couldn't tell by the boy's body shape he would have sworn he was a girl. The blond was sat typing on a lime green laptop, occasionally sipping a cup of coffee.

But none of these was what had caught The Italian blader's attention. This boy was definitely Italian and could have been twins with a certain blond Italian girl the Majestics knew.

"Angelo." Enrique whispered simply. Oliver could see the longing in his eyes to go and talk to the boy, Angelo. The greenette knew Enrique had assumed Eleonora and her cousin had both left France, so hadn't contacted either of them to try make ammends when he felt compelled to. This was now his chance. Oliver stepped forward and took Enrique's hand to get his attention.

"Go see him, make it right." Oliver said quietly, showing he's going to support him. Enrique looked at the younger Majestic lovingly before crossing the road towards the café.

-xxX-Xxx-

It was nearly 5 when Angelo got back to his mother's holiday home. The first thing he noticed when he got back was that the house was silent, empty and dark. When he left his cousin, Eleonora, had said she wouldn't be going anywhere but now she's nowhere to be seen. He sighed and threw his shopping bags on the couch before putting his laptop back in his bedroom. While he was in his room, Eleonora entered the house again.

"Angelo, you here?" the blond called through the house and smiled when her cousin came back into the living room.

"You said you weren't going out." Angelo accused, frowning at his older cousin and standing with his hands on his hips.

"Yeah I know but I found out there was a sale on at Moi Bayes so I had to go shopping!" The girl exclaimed, lifting up her shopping bags. "And I see you went there as well." She then gestured to Angelo's shopping bag which matched hers with a smirk on her face.

"So what? I like to shop, big deal. Loads of guys like to shop!" Angelo shot back, defending himsel.

"No, honey, it's just you." Elonora said in a mock comforting voice, reaching over to gently at him on the shoulder. She then giggled to herself as she took her bags and threw them in the guest bedroom. She came back out and began searching through Angelo's bags to see what he had bought.

"You'll never guess who I saw today?" The Italian boy asked as his new clothes were thrown around the room as they were deemed either good or a mistake. The only response he got was a shrug as Eleonora examined his new jeans. "Enrique." The one name made the girl drop the jeans and her head to whip towards her cousin, her shoch evident in her eyes.

"Oh, no, no, no, no." She chanted as she brushed clothes and bags off the settee so she could sit down next to Angelo and grab his hand desperately. "You didn't tell him I was still here, did you?" Her cousin shook his head quickly, reassuring her.

"Don't worry, I picked up on that. I just said I had only just got back in France so didn't know." Angelo told her, patting her hand in a similar mocking fashion to how she had done to his shoulder earlier. "Why haven't you let him try make it up to yet? You normally love the presenst and meals that come with his apologies."

"I've got enough of my own stuff going on to worry about his silly little games anymore." Eleonora said with a hint of resentment. Angelo just nodded even though he didn't really egt it but knowing now wasn't the time to push.

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Okay that's four chapters updated, yey, go me. Please review, I would really like to get lots of different opinions on the changes I'm making, or even just the story in general if this is your first time reading it.


	5. Chapter 5

Nearly there, just need to play around with this chapter a bit, then I'm probably going to leave Chapter 6 pretty much as it is and then we can get on with some new chapters. Woooo.

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When Enrique and Oliver returned from their walk and having dinner in the city, they decided to curl up together on the couch and watch a film. They were ultimately joined by Johnny, from the lack of anything else to do as he was trying to avoid Robert after their blowout earlier. Johnny hoped it would end up being Enrique who had chosen the film, as the Italian's predictable comedic choice would definitely be better than one of Oliver's romantic films. However, Enrique, trying to be a good boyfriend, let the Grench boy choose so the three ended up watching _Titanic_, much to Johnny's displeasure.

After about half an hour of the film Johnny gave up, he couldn't force himself through any more cheesy romance or ridiculous acting. He dragged himself up the stairs and to his and Robert's room, promising to himself that he would never go on a ferry again, though he knew he probably would. He paused outside their bedrrom, knowing Robert was in there, because he couldn't decide whether he wanted to face him. Eventually, he couldn't make excuses not to go in anymore; he was still pissed off with Robert but he was so stressed and tired, he just needed to comfort his partner could bring unintentionally.

"Every time I watch that stupid film I know it takes quite a while for the bloody boat to sink, but every time I keep wishing it would happen faster just so it'll just end!" He threw into the room to announce his presence and show Robert he was outting the issue behind him for right now. Robert was sat at the head of the bead dressed in loose pants and a baggy t-shirt hunched over lots of papers and books. The German threw a small smirk his way before going back to his papers and books. "What you doing?"

"Trying to devise some new plays for the upcoming charity tournament." Robert explained, before realiding what he had said and added. "Just in case we decide to complete." He tried to be relaxed about it, but Johnny could tell he wanted to take part. Robert moved some of the papers to the bed-side table when Johnny threw himself on the bed roughly.

"I can think of something more fun to do." Johnny said suggestively, shufflinf closer to his byfriend. He pulled the paper and penicl out of Robert's hands and threw them over his shoulder before straddling the German and laying his arms delicately on the other's shoulders, so he could seductively lean into his partner. The Majestic captain cupped his partner's face and lent forward to kiss him gently. The kiss didn't last very long but was followed up by another two chaste kisses that did nothing but leave Johnny fustrated. "Not that that wasn't nice, but I had more in mind."

"Sorry." Robert apologized softly, placing another chaste kiss of Johnny's arm where it rested on his shoulder. "I'm just not in the mood." Johnny sighed and rolled of the other male before jumping of the bed and going to their en suite bathroom, but not before shouting one thing back to his boyfriend.

"Dick!"

-xxX-Xxx-

Robert frowned as he sipped his coffee the next morning. He and Johnny were the only two Majestics in the Kitchen, Enrique and Oliver were still in bed, and the silence between the two was deadly. The Scott had woken up when Robert had, even though he usually sleeps late, yet hadn't spoken even one word to his boyfriend since last night. Eventually, the German had had enough and he slammed his mug down, hard enough to spill some of the liquid in the bright blue mug but not hard enough to smash it.

"You're acting like a spoilt brat, it's very uncouth." He told the other blader, desperately trying to keep the anger from his voice so his pristine appearance would not slip.

"I'm acting like a brat?" Johnny asked rhetorically, not bothering to hide his anger at all, not caring how others saw him. "You said you were scared of loosing me yet you don't even want to touch me."

"I said that was my problem, that all we had was physical." Robert retorted, still trying to appear calm and collected.

"Then do something about it!" Johnny practically screamed at him. "All we have is a physical relationship because that's all you let us have. You only ever show emotion or let your proper, posh facade slip when we're having sex.

Robert was frozen in shock from Johnny's outburst. Was this true? He's always had this facade, if it was such a problem why hadn't Johnny spoken about it sooner? Maybe he had tried, but Robert had just been too oblivious, or too wrapped up in keeping up his facade? Now that's irony. The phone suddenly let out a shrill ring and Robert left the Kitchen to answer, leavign Johnny to his own thoughts.

Johnny had never had issues with being sociable, much like his Italian and French teammates. He wasn't particularly interested in flirting and the attention like Enrique and he would never be as caring and as charitable as Oliver but he enjoyed other people's company and had always been very open with his amotions, partically his anger and fustration, resulting in his continous temper tantrums. So, he isn't surprised when people don't understand what it is between him and Robert. Hell, he isn't sure if even he fully understands it. Maybe its one of those magnet theories, which suggest their opposites attract, or that because they're are so different, they complete each other, like soul mates or something. Although both of these are way too cheesy for Johnny to give any credit to. More and more, lately, Johnny's began to worry that them being so opposite is just another way to show they don't really have a relationship, they're just 'friends with benefits'. The Scott really didn't want to admit it, but Robert's recent doubts over their relationships had actually made sense to him, and now had him worried.

The way their relationship officially started, that hot night after the chess game when they gave into their lust, didn't really suggest much strength in it. Johnny had always just brushed it off, telling himself he had genuine feelings for Bobert because he cared for him, even before that night. When he first met Robert, the way he kept to himself and hid nehind a mask had interested Johnny, like it was almosta challenge to him to bring Robert's true self out. Their friendship had sprung from then onwards, and Johnny was sure that was genuine, there's no way they could spend so much time together and be so comfortable without it being so, and then Johnny was sure he began to develop feelings for the German. Although, now, Johnny wasn't sure of anything. He had never had a relationship before Robert, and to be honest had never really felt much for anyone else either, so maybe he had just convinced himself there was more there than there really was.

-xxX-Xxx-

Angelo sighed as he lugged a rubbish bag through the kitchen in his mother's French cottage. He heard the rip as it happened and felt the bag get lighter as some of the rubbish fell out of the bottom of the black bag and Angelo threw his hands in the air as a sign of resignation even though there was no one there to see it. He had spent the evening doing chores around the house; emptying bins, washing up, stargihtening the front room, changing his bed covers. And all with no help at all from Eleonora. His cousin could be a real lazy bitch at times. He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his neck before fetching another rubbish bag and beginning to pick up the rubbish now spread all over the floor. However, one specfic piece caught his eye and suddenly everything fell into place. Now he understood what was wrong with Eleonora; why she had completely gone off it with Enrique, why she had retreated to the cottage here even though she loved Italy, what the 'issues of her own' were.

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Hope you enjoyed reading this new chapter! I'm trying something new with the mystery around what is up with Eleonora, so let me know what you think, I'm really interested in hearing what you think the issue might be so please review!


	6. Chapter 6

Okay, here we go, last chapter to update before we get on with the new stuff. I haven't actually changed much with this chapter, being rather happy with it anyway, just tweaked a few sections to make it fit the new changes and give it more depth.

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Enrique frowned. He stood in the hall, arms crossed over his chest, feet set slightly apart and mouth turned down in an out of place scowl. He furrowed his brows as he stared down one of his greatest enemies of the month, Oliver's most recent painting. It was bloody gorgeous, in his words due to his lack of rhetoric skill, but he just couldn't make it fit in any of the many rooms in their house. He had promised to hang the beautiful scene of a cascading waterfall, for which Oliver had been inspired by other artists work, but it didn't fit in the front room, the kitchen, the bedrooms, the study, the dining room, the training room or even the bathroom, which seemed like the most obvious place. Eventually, he gave up on his staring contest, effectively losing to a damn painting, and went to find help.

First he sought out Robert, the smartest of the team and definitely the best person to ask for advice. He found his captain in the study, going tactics and plays for the charity match, which the German really wanted to take part in but the rest of the Majestics were unsure. Enrique was hesitant to approach the German when he looked so focused, and slightly frustrated if Enrique had to be honest, but upsetting Oliver was out of the question so he slammed open the door, announcing his presence, and entered the room.

"Enrique." Robert greeted formally, after getting over the initial shock the banging of door had caused. He went back to his work for a few moments before the feel of Enrique's stare forced him to turn his attention back to the blond. "Anything I can do for you?"

"I need your advice." Enrique announced quickly, sliding into one of the armchairs placed for comfortable studying. "There's this painting Oliver did that's lovely and I promised to hang it up somewhere in the house, but it doesn't fit anywhere. What do I do?"

Robert oppressed a sigh of frustration; he had done almost no work in the long time he had been sat with these papers in front of him. All morning his thoughts had been plagued by worry over his relationship with Johnny, worry he shouldn't even have; he wouldn't even have if it hadn't have been for his stupid attitude. Just when he finally pushed the thoughts back and got into it, Enrique comes along with a problem, which to Robert, seems easy enough to solve.

"Just hang it above your bed, whether it goes or not, and when Oliver sees it tonight, if it doesn't go, he will take it down." He explained methodically, not putting his pencil down in a hope Enrique might get the hint to hurry up. Enrique, however, leaned back in his chair, showing no signs of leaving

"How will that work?"

"You appear the good boyfriend for putting the painting up and doing something for Oliver and it stays that way because it will be Oliver's choice to take the painting down." He explained, resting his chin on interlocked fingers, in an attempt to appear arrogant so Enrique wouldn't see what he was truly feeling. How could he be giving such good relationship advice when all he can do in his own is drive Johnny away?"

"Thanks man, that's great." Enrique said cheerfully, jumping out of his seat and running of to put the painting up, leaving Robert to wallow in his misery and not get any work done.

-xxX-Xxx-

"What do you think?" Enrique asked Oliver with a smirk, sure Robert's advice would work. He was standing on the mattress of their double bed, pyjama bottoms hanging dangerously low and top still on the floor where he had thrown it that morning, hoping that after impressing Oliver, the French blader may want to 'repay' him

Oliver was stood at the end of their bed, staring intently at the painting and occasionally glancing at everything other than his nearly naked boyfriend. He sighed and crossed his arms over his long sleeved top, which matched his full length bottoms. Enrique hated his night clothes but no matter how many times he brought them up, Oliver refused to change to anything else. Enrique is sure it's just to piss him off now. Finally, Oliver decided on a frown and looked at the Italian with the puppy-dog eyes he knew he couldn't say no to.

"It doesn't go; it doesn't match the theme of the room at all." He stated abruptly, much to Enrique's delight, but his delight came too soon. "You'll have to go put it up somewhere else."

Enrique felt his face drop, unfortunately along with his trousers. Oliver glanced at his boyfriend's bottom half and giggled innocently, although Enrique knew from experience that it was false. Enrique tried to make the best of a bad situation; putting his hands on his hips he gave Oliver a suggestive look and a wink. The youngest Majestic giggle became a full out laugh and his boyfriend's actions but he motioned for Enrique to pull his trousers back up. He did, hesitantly, confused at Oliver's actions, knowing the French boy would generally take advantage of a situation like this as much as he would.

"You have a painting to go put up." He explained, much to Enrique's displeasure. "Go put it up somewhere else, where it fits in with the theme, and then come back and we can see about your obvious problem." He gestured down to Enrique's 'problem' with an out of character smirk before turning his back on his boyfriend.

-xxX-Xxx-

Enrique thought he was going to go crazy. He was tired, frustrated, hungry, bored but thankfully no longer horny. Spending an hour running around the house trying a painting on the wall of every room isn't as much of a turn on as you'd think. He trudged down the stairs one again, desperately trying to think of a solution, somewhere where the painting could go, in a hope Oliver may still be awake when he gets back upstairs. He froze once he entered the front room again, noticing something had changed since the last time he had been in. Johnny was laid on his back on the couch, staring at the ceiling.

"Why are you down here?" He asked, catching The Scott's attention since he hadn't notice him enter the room. Enrique was shocked, he had never seem Johnny look as devastated and desperate as he did in those first few seconds, before he caught himself and pushed most of it away, although not covering up his emotions, not being afraid to show them.

"Can't sleep." He answered simply before jumping over the back of the couch and walking to stand nearer to the Italian. "What?" He asked when Enrique just stared at him for a while.

"Nothing." Enrique replied quietly, shaking his head like he was trying to shake the worries for Johnny out of his head, before heading to the kitchen. He was followed by the Scott and decided he might as well let Johnny join in his misery if he was that desperate to.

"Why are you up?" He asked in response to Enrique's question and out of his own curiosity.

"I've got to find a place to hang this painting Oliver did?" He explained, lifting the painting to show Johnny which one he was talking about.

"Well that doesn't seem too bad yet you look completely lost and devastated."

"Well I can't find a place it will fit and until I do, I sure I'm getting no sex from Oliver." Johnny burst out laughing at Enrique's words, unable to stop himself. He laughed for a few moments before the rest got caught in his throat when he once again reminded of the reasons for him not being able to sleep with his own boyfriend.

"This is weird." He announced suddenly, scared to linger on that subject for too long. Jesus, he was beginning to act like Robert, the way he was avoiding what was wrong around Enrique. "I mean this, us seemingly getting on." Enrique nodded in agreement, pouring them both some coffee.

"But since we are getting on," He began hesitantly, unsure if he was pushing too far. "maybe you can tell me the real reason you're lying all depressed on the couch in the middle of the night." Johnny smirked, impressed at Enrique's cockiness.

"What makes you think I lied?"

"On any other occasion, if you couldn't sleep you'd jusy be keeping the rest of us awake by shagging Robert." The blond responded, handing over Johnny his coffee and giving him a look that said he already knew the answer. Johnny frowned in response and sipped his coffee.

"My relationship with Robert will pretty much be null and void in a few days." He started explaining the truth. The first sentence was enough to shock Enrique and to gain his full attention. "We're not exactly a couple anymore, if we ever were really. All our relationship has ever been based on is our lust for each other, we're so much more like 'friends with benefits'. And I don't like it. I don't like that I thought I was in a happy, loving relationship with my best friend but now the rug had pulled from underneath me, showing me the truth of what we have, and I've fallen flat on my arse as usual."

Enrique frowned, what kind of response do you give to something like that? Here he was wanting advice from Johnny and Robert when they had worse problems than he did, and he didn't have any advice for them.

"I'll help." He said boldly, not wanting to come across too arrogantly, but it had just occurred to him now he could fix both of their issues.

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Please review, I do love support, but if you have nothing to say, that's okay, just keep reading. New chapters coming next, that's right, never before seen story plot all from the depths of my mind.


	7. Chapter 7

Can't believe I've finally made it, a new chapter after almost two years of nothing. Go me! Unofrtunately it is rather short, but I felt this way it was more dramatic and effective.

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"Viola!" Enrique held his arms spread, tremendously proud of his solution to the painting problem. The other three Majestics eyed up the waterfall painting and where it hang above the fireplace in the living room. He had gathered them first thing the next morning, regardless of how tired they all were, to show his solution. "It's great, right?"

"No." Oliver answered his boyfriend definitely, not hiding his displeasure. "Enrique, what the hell were you thinking? It doesn't go at all." His complaint became more of a whine on his last sentence, which annoyed Enrique slightly, although stopped the anger that was building from the initial complaint due to the pity it created.

"Yeah, but that's why its so great!" Enrique enthused, remaining standing on the chiar he had used to hang the painting. The confused looks he gained from the rest of the team showed him they didn't understand what he meant. "The painting and the room are us." He explained further, gesturing to the two things he mentioned as he did so. He still only recieved blank looks though, and he could swear he could see the cogs turning behind Johnny's eyes as he tried to figure it out.

"Yes, the painting doesn't actually go with the room," Enrique began his explanation. "but it's still going to work. Don't jump to any conclusions, just let me finish. It's a beautiful painting done by my boyfriend that I want to hang here, so I'm going to, and it will work, because I want it to work and I will make it work. And that's us. We don't go. That's why it took us so long to find a confortable level with each other, but we eventually did. And why did we? Because we wanted it to work and we made it work. That's also what we need to do now. We all are having problems with our relationships with each other and with family and friends, but they can work if we want them to and we get of our ass' and make them work.

"Now I will demonstrate the validity of 'the principle fo the painting' as I will go straight over to see Eleonora and make her sit down and talk to me. If she wants to be mad after we've talked, then she can be mad, and I'll just keep going back until she agrees to help me make our friendship work. No more hiding and ignoring each other. Then, when I've talked to her today, I'm going to come straight back home and take my amazing boyfriend out to dinner tonight, to make up for how little time I've spent with him lately." When Enrique finished he jumped down of the chair he was standing on and looked at his teammates expectantly. Oliver smile brightly, extremely happy and proud with his boyfriend, and hugged him tightly to show him so.

"Go fix things with Eleonora." Oliver said while beaming with joy and pride. "I'll go book us a table at a restaurant." He almost sang as he skipped out the room and began humming and he headed upstairs.

"Really doesn't take much to cheer him up, does it?" Johnny commented to Enrique, who smiled and nodded, patting the Scott on the shoulder before he left the room and grabbed his coat to go see Eleonora.

Robert and Johnny heard the front door open and close as Enrique left and felt the awkwardness enter the room once it was just the two of them. They glanced at each other once they accepted the tense atmosphere but their looks shot in the opposite direction when their eyes met, both too embarrased at being caught looking at each other; Robert for letting his facade slip and Johnny for not sticking to his plan to completely ignore the German. Enrique's words had actually made a lot of sense to both of the bladers, but they now had to decide whether they could make the relationship work, and if they even wanted to.

* * *

Did I hit the right note of contrast between the two relatiosnhips? Joy and hope for Enrique and Oliver but loss and despair for Robert and Johnny. Did the short chapter make it more dramatic and effective? If you have any thoughts, please send me a review and let me know, or just send a review for any random babble, I just love hearing from readers.


	8. Chapter 8

After the short last chapter, I thought I should give something a little bit more lengthy this time round. So prepare for long descriptions, deep moments of contemplation and random bits that have no other purpose than to add a few more lines.

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Robert and Johnny retreated to the kitchen once they had got their bearings, deciding coffee was needed before they breach the subject of their relationship. Only once they were sat on opposite sides of the kitchen table with steaming mugs in front of them, did they both to fully consider they position they were now in. Johnny didn't want to give up what he considered the most important relationship in his life but was unsure of how much of Robert's apathy and facade he could edure in it. While Robert felt unable to give up on the only relationship he felt completely comfortable in but didn't know if even that was enough to push him to give up the closed off personality his parents had instilled in him from such a young age.

"Most of what Enrique says is bullshit, but I actually thought he made sense there." Johnny said as a start, hoping to break the tension a bit. Robert offered a weak smile in return but it faded quickly. "I think we should take part in the charity tournament." He said more sincerely. He had been considering agreeing to compete for quite a while even though he wasn't to keen to.

"Why?" Robert asked quietly, for some reason not feeling right speaking too loudly in the current atmosphere. "You don't want to."

"Actually, I do, for you." Johnny admitted, his honesty clear upon his face. Robert reached across the table and placed his hand on top of the Scott's, surprising Johnny with his out of character open tenderness.

"I want to make this work, our relationship that is, and I know it will be hard but I do think I can change, I can be open and forward if that's what we need." Robert told his boyfriend with so much intensity that Johnny was almost scared, Robert's openess being so out of place. Johnny felt himself gaping at the determination and love on the German's face but couldn't seem to force his mouth to close. "Johnny?" Robert's worried voce finally shook Johnny out of his mini-breakdown and without thinking he lunged across the table and kissed the other straight on the mouth. Robert gave in to the kiss naturally again but eventually got his bearings and pulled away from his boyfriend.

"I'm sorry." Johnny told him, before Robert had time to complain about him just relying on the physical. "I just couldn't resist." He explained sheepishly, knowing Robert understood what he was meaning, that seeing Robert finally completely open up like that had been too much to ignore. He then righted himself and showed Robert he was being serious. "No. We don't need you to be open and forward."

"But I thought that was the problem, that I wasn't open with my emtions and hiding behind my facade?" Robert asked tentatively, treading carefully as he was scared of saying the wrong thing and ruining the progress they had already made.

"Yeah, it is." Johnny agreed, but noticed the German's confusion. "But the solution isn't you becoming a completely different person. And I realise that now. You do need to open up and let your facade down more in our relationship, but you don't need to be ridiculously expressive like Oliver or as sociably forward as Enrique, that's not who you are, that's not the person I'm in love with."

"Wow. That was very unlike you." Robert said, visibly impressed by Johnny's words. He stood up from his chair and moved around the table to sit on one next the the Scott and take his hand in his again.

"I guess we both needed to be more open with our emotions." Johnny agreed, actually surprised with himself as well. Damn, he's matured, wait till Enrique hears about this. "So, we can do this can't we?" He asked, accepting Robert's nod as agreement and a sign to continue. "We're both going to be more open with our emotions, you'll let the facade slip a bit and I'll stop being such a nag."

-xxX-Xxx-

Enrique got a lift to Eleonora's aunt's place from one of Oliver's family chauffeurs, not being bothered to walk or use some form of public transportation. He knocked hesitantly on the front door, the confidence he had felt and shown expertly at home suddenly failing him now he was actually faced with the problem at hand. He stood on the doorstep for a good ten minutes before he began to really worry that Eleonora and Angelo had both already left the house and probably the country. However, just as he had began to walk away from the door, his head hanging low in dejection, he heard the lock being turned behind him and he spun round just in time to see Eleonora's haid peaking round the door. He noticed her dripping wet blond hair and her towel clad body and understood why it took her so long to answer.

"Oh." She said simply, when she saw it was Enrique who was stood outside her aunt's door. Enrique took a second to congratulate himself on the progress made so far. Yes, Elenora hadn't really welcomed him, but she hadn't yet slammed the door in his face either.

"Hello." He said as warmly as he could, thinking formality was his best option forward.

"What do you want?" Elenora asked sharply, opening the door a bit wider so she could stand more comfortably.

"I thought we should talk." Enrique told her directly, walking back to the door. "And I think we should do it inside. We wouldn't want you catching a cold, or attracting any unwanted attention."

"Who says the attention would be unwanted." Eleonora replied, joining in with Enrique's joke and offering a small smile before stepping away from the door and allowing Enrique inside. She was still really angry with the boy, but couldn't resist playing along. In the 12 years she had known Enrique, she had never once been able to resist his charm completely. "Go sit down and I'll go put some clothes on."

Enrique did as he was told and made his way into the living room of the cottage so he could collapse on the settee. He couldn't help chuckling to himself once he heard Eleonora's door shut as he was so happy with how good the situation was going. If he had to be honest, Enrique thought the first time he tried this he would have the door shut in his face. For the second and third times he was expecting being yelled at with a few choice swear words that Eleonora seemed to excell in using. However, here he is, on his first try, been allowed in teh house and even had a comfortable exchange with the Italian girl. He has no idea how it's happened, but he's glad it has.

While he waited for Eleonora to return, he took in the room he was sat in. He had been to the cottage before, having stayed here with Eleonora when he used to come and visit Oliver at the beginning of the relationship, but it has changed since then. The main focus of the rather small living room (Although Oliver and Eleonora would protest it was 'cosy', Enrique only sees small) is still the ornate fireplace, decorated with a vase of delicate white lillies and a selection of family photos in simple frames, that all the settees and armchairs are directed towards. Enrique remembered fondly of sitting in front of the lit fire on cold nights with Eleonora when he would visit and was reensured that he had to fix their friendship. The rest of the room was pretty much as you'd expect, a small T.V. in the corner that could just be seen from the settee, impressionist art adorning the walls and many cushions, throws and rugs spread throughout the room for maximum comfort. Just as he was contemplating moving over to the bookcase and seeing what books were there, Eleonora came into the room dressed in jeans and t-shirt with her still wet hair tied back so it didn't get in the way.

"Go on then." She said directed him, crossing her arms in front of her and leaning against the living room wall, indicating she didn't plan to let the talk go on for too long.

"I want to sort out the problem between us." Enrique said, standing up so he was level with the Italian girl, not quite comfortable with her being in a higher position. "I know I upset you by moving here, but we need to work it out and move past it."

"Are you really that much of an idiot?" Eleonora snapped once ENrique had finished speaking, shocking the Italian blader. "I don't care where you live, and I find really offensive that you actually think I would." All the progress that seemed to have been made so far completely disappeared as Eleonora's temper rose and Enrique failed to understand what she was saying. "Do you know what? I really..."

Unfortunately, Enrique didn't find out what Eleonora 'really' as her body suddenly contracted, her hand flew to cover her mouth and she sped out of the living room and into the bathroom down the hall. Enrique was at first at a loss; not sure what was happening until he heard the sounds of his best friend retching and throwing up (persumably and hopefully in the toilet, Enrique couldn't help but think). He was unsure of what to do and found himself awkwardly sitting back down on the settee. No woder she was in such a bad mood, anybody would be if they were ill enough to actually throw up. Although, that doesn't detract from what he had done wrong and Eleonora's right to be very pissed off with him, even if he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was exactly yet.

"I think you should go now." Eleonora said quietly from the doorway, where she had returned to. Instead of her initial defensiveness and anger, she now just seemed exhausted and drained. Enrique would have protested and demended they talk more, but eh saw the that look in his friend's eye that knew it was not the right time to push; it was the time to back of and give her her space. Then he''l have his opportunity when she's back to herself. So, he stood from the sette and left the cottage quietly, pausing briefly to lay a hand on the blond girl's shoulder in parting.

-xxX-Xxx-

Later that night, Enrique and Johnny sat in the kitchen together, similar to how they had the night before, except both in much better moods. Enrique felt quite happy about his first talk with Eleonora and had a hopeful outlook on the future of their relationship, even though he was now worried about her health. After his dinner with Oliver had been perfect in strengthening and reaffirming their relationship, and they had yet to finish their date in the bedroom once Oliver had finished his bath and the Italian had finshed his talk with Johnny. Johnny wasn't looking forward to any extra time with his boyfriend in bed tonight, given that Robert had opted to stay in a spare bedroom, but he didn't mind at all. After their talk and realising they both really wanted to make the relationship with, the Scott and the German had agreed to cool it down on the physical, resulting in the seperate room, but work on the emotional, which Johnny was really looking forward to.

"I really need help man." Enrique began, now completely comfortable with coming to Johnny for help after last night. The two had reached an understanding with each other, which has made it easier for them to help each other and be friends, but has thankfully not affected their ability to tease and torment each other at the same time. "If it's not me moving to France, then what is Eleonora so mad at?"

"I really want to not tell you, just to let you swim in your overwhelming stupidity even longer, but Eleonora probably deserves you to finally get your act together and deal with this." Johnny said rather harshly, but Enrique from experience knew not to be too offended. He did however note the obviously fake carelessness Johnny used when discussing the Italian girl, when had they two become close enough to care? "She's mad because you didn't tell her."

"I have told her though." Enrique protested and Johnny really didn't understand how he was seen as the idiot of the group when the blond dumbass was so obvious in his own idiocy.

"Yeah, but you only told her after you had already moved." Johnny said, sighing when Enrique just looked at him quizzacally. The Italian opened his mouth to speak, but Johnny cut him off before he could predictably say it didn't matter when he told Eleonora. "It does matter that you waited until after already moving to tell her. And yes she knows that you only did it because you were worried about how she would react, but it doesn't really make it hurt any less tjhat is seemed like you didn't have confidence in her." Johnny said deliberately, leaving no room for argument.

"When did you get so good at reading people?" Enrique asked, laying his head on his crossed arms on the table and puffing out his cheeks, showing his embarrasment and envy of Johnny.

"I'm dating Robert Jurgen, of I couldn't read him well, I'd have better chance at dating the coffee maker." The Scott said matter-of-factly, gesturing the aforementioned machine with his empty mug before placing it in the sink and gathering the few pieces of paper he had with him. Enrique offered a small chuckle for Johnny's statement but seemed almost lost in his own world, before a smack on the back of his head brought him back to reality. "Worry about Eleonore tomorrow. Right now, you need to enjoy Oliver." As he watched Johnny walk from the kitchen after his advice, Enrique thought his teammate was a lot smarter than anyone gave him credit for.

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As promised, a lengthier chapter, so please enjoy. Amd review if you so see fit, oh glorious readers.


	9. Chapter 9

Right, I know this chapter has taken me a while to get out but I only noticed after I had written it that it didn't really fit the rest of the story, so I had to go back and change most of it.

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It had been two weeks now since the Majestics began working with 'The Principle of the Portrait', and so far it had worked well for them. Robert and Johnny had spent every night of the week in separate rooms, sharing nothing more physical than a deep kiss every now and then, and had endeavoured to connect more through dates and openness. There dates hadn't consisted of much - going out for lunch, watching old beyblade matches together or dinner once or twice in Paris - but it worked well for the two of them and they felt closer than ever. They focussed any anger or frustration at the slow weeks into their preparations for the upcoming Charity Tournament, even though Enrique and Oliver had yet to agree to compete, the two older members of the Majestics had found a renewed passion in blading and winning, most likely linked to their renewed passion in each other and their relationship.

Enrique and Oliver had also improved their relationship, although not directly linked to an issue. The two bladers had made more time for each other, to make sure their relationship was fresh and as passionate as it could be at any given point. They had made a pact to try new things, which had led to the awkward situation of Johnny walking in on Enrique posing for a nude portrait, but it had yet deter either of them. They had fallen back into the honeymoon period of their relationship, and rather than dwindling, it seemed to picking up pace as it got more intense and exciting.

Enrique's friendship with Eleonora had been a completely different story. Rather than impressing her with his dedication, Enrique's regular visits to her aunt's cottage was apparently driving her mad - or according to Angelo they were, as Eleonora had now stopped even telling Enrique to go away and stick his apologies in a rather private place. The only ray of hope Enrique had still to lean on was that she hadn't yet left France, so he still had of maybe getting through to her. He understood completely now what he had done wrong; he should have told her straight away, whether she would be upset or not, because she deserved no less as his best friend. Enrique had managed to create a surprisingly fruitful friendship with Angelo, even taking Oliver to have a coffee with him and the Italian. Through this new friendship he had managed to get some new ideas on how to approach the tension between him and Eleonora, but he was waiting for the perfect time to use them, instead of at a closed-door.

-xxX-Xxx-

Johnny and Robert were sat together on the bed in the spare bedroom Robert had been staying in looking over current stats on other bladers. They had just returned from dinner together and neither had wanted to part so they had returned to their research for the tournament, regardless of the late hour. Robert was sat at the head of the bed, leaning against the head-board with papers in his lap, while Johnny sat cross-legged in front of him, further towards the end of the bed. This choice of seating ended up being their downfall as when the two both leant forward at the same time for the same piece of paper, their heads banged together. Instead of recoiling in pain, however, their heads stayed touching, forehead against forehead, while the two bladers breathed deeply until the tension got too much and their lips met in a bruising kiss. The papers were pushed on to the floor and Johnny have dived and was half pulled to the head of bed and underneath Robert. They shed each other of their clothing and finally gave in to the passion they had been trying to ignore for the last two weeks.

-xxX-Xxx-

Enrique knocked on the door of Angelo's mother's cottage with more determination than he had been able to muster the last few times he had come to try with Eleonora. The last few times he hadn't had any new plan, simply expecting to again talk to Angelo for a bit but not make any progress with Eleonora. However, today he had a plan. After a coffee with Oliver and Angelo, he had formed a few good ideas and decided to act on one this time; writing a letter to Eleonora, expressing everything she wouldn't give him chance to say to her face. The door opened and he put on a big smile for Angelo, but it fell away almost immediately in shock when he realised it was Eleonora who had answered the door.

"You'd better come in." She said apathetically, holding the door open for him. Enrique was too shocked to react properly, so found himself simply led from the front door to the kitchen by the other Italian. "Being mad at you is exhausting, and it's not really fair, so I've decided I'm done."

"You're done being mad at me?" Enrique could barely contain his elation at Eleonora's words. Finally, all his efforts were paying off, he was going to get his best friend back.

"No." Enrique's mood fell dramatically at Eleonora's answer - how could one word be so powerful? He was prepared to be furious at her, until he saw the pain on her face before the blonde girl furiously rubbed at her face, as if trying to rub away any emotion showing. "I'm done with you."

Enrique was completely lost. In barely a minute at the cottage he had gone from a reluctant acceptance of his halted friendship with Eleonora, to overwhelming elation at thinking he had made tremendous progress, and finally to this gut wrenching pain at her sudden dismissal of him. He knew the reason she was in pain was probably because she didn't want to do this, but Enrique had no idea why she thought she had to. As long as he had been friends with Eleonora, he had never known her to not do what she wants, that was one of the things he found great about her. He tried to express this, but Eleonora hushed him.

"Well I've learnt Enrique that you can't always just have what you want. It's part fo growing up, and lately certain things have made that very clear for me." She through her bag on the worktop beside her before pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter (Enrique knew Eleonora smoked, but was surprised as she had never been so obvious about it before.). "And I've also learnt that I need to know and trust the people around me, and that's not you anymore Enrique. The reason I'm mad at you is because you didn't tell me, but not because that meant you had no confidence in me. I'm mad that you didn't tell me because when we first met at that party, I immediately liked you because you didn't give a crap what anyone else thought, you just did what you had to and wanted. If you were still that Enrique, you would have shouted the news that you were moving to France from the rooftops for everyone to hear, but instead you skirted around and kept it a secret because you were scared fo what I would think. I don't know this Enrique, it's like I've lost my best friend, and I can't deal with that now."

She left the kitchen, Enrique guessing to go outside and have a cigarette, and Enrique was left to process what he had just been told. She was right. A few years ago he would have just told everyone if he was moving, regardless, but he had been so concerned about how she would react that he had acted like a completely different person. But, surely he had cared about her like that before, and even if he hadn't, is it such a bad thing hat he does now? His mind was churning and he couldn't stand still. He began pacing around the room, throwing his arms rather angrily as he contemplated what was happening - Eleonora, moving to France, changing, growing up - and how he didn't really understand any of it. Everyone was making decisions and changes that directly effected his life, yet he wasn't involved or consulted or even given a chance to be part of them. He gave one particularly violent arm swing and he caught Eleonora's black bag, knocking of the worktop and on to the floor, where its contents skidded across the kitchen floor. He took a moment to catch his breath before he dropped to his knees and began to pick up Eleonora's various make-up, hygienic and essential items. However, he froze when he came upon a box of tablets. The complex name of the tablets told him they were for something more serious than just a headache and even though he was angry with her, Enrique's worry for Eleonora sky-rocketed. She must be seriously ill.

"What are doing?!" A shout came from the doorway and Enrique realised Eleonora had returned, seeing what appeared to be him looking through her bag. He began to attempt to explain what had actually happened but she cut him off, snatching the box out of his hands. "I think it's time you left." Enrique felt so emotionally drained he couldn't do anything else but just stand up and leave the cottage, just catching a sob coming from the kitchen before he shut the door behind him.

-xxX-Xxx-

That night Oliver made dinner for the rest of the Majestics; nothing too fancy with many courses and complex ingredients, just a simple roast with seasoned potatoes and vegetables that Oliver could have cooked with only one hand, but he enjoyed making anyway. As they sat and ate, there was an obvious tension in the air. They all politely thanked and complimented Oliver and the food, but Robert and Johnny weren't talking to each other, and Enrique wasn't talking to either of his three teammates, so Oliver felt rather awkward. He grew more and more unnerved by the only sounds being the scraping of cutlery against plates and someone occasionally shuffling in the seat, so when they had finished and Robert and Johnny had excused themselves, Oliver cornered his boyfriend, determined to at least sort him out.

"What is going on." Oliver demanded, after persuading Enrique to wash the dishes with him, even though they had a dishwasher. "You've been acting odd all night."

"Nothing." Enrique answered sullenly, accepting the now washed plate of Oliver and beginning to dry it with the tea towel automatically, as though his attention was elsewhere. Oliver looked at him is disbelief and splashed water at him to get his attention.

"Don't lie to me Enrique, please." He said, dropping the glass he was washing into the bowel so he could focus fully on Enrique. He noticed Enrique face strain slightly at his words, and he instantly felt guilty, but didn't take them back, because he meant them.

"Do you think I've changed?" He asked, passing the tea towel to his boyfriend so the greenette could dry his hands.

"Well...yeah." Oliver said, confused by the question, and when he saw worry on Enrique's face he hastened to explain. "But, it's a natural change, as you grow up and mature. We've all changed, you included, for the better. You used to be a little more arrogant and obnoxious, but now you're more sensitive and caring."

"Arrogant and obnoxious?" Enrique asked teasingly, and Oliver worried at first he had upset him, until he saw the cheeky smile on his face. He smiled back and playfully swatted his arm. Enrique then turned serious. "I saw Eleonora today. She said I'd changed and she didn't know me anymore, that's why she's mad."

"I'm sorry Enrique." Oliver told him, leaning into his chest for a moment in an attempt to comfort him before pulling away to carry on washing up. "It's always hard when someone you know so well changes, and then something dramatic happens to bring it to your attention."

"So, what do I so?" The Italian asked, picking up the tea towel again to resume drying.

"You redefine your relationship with her, like we did." Oliver answered, only turning back to Enrique when he didn't answer, and noticed he looked confused and lost. "Why did you think we were back in the honeymoon phase of out relationship, we both changed so out relationship changed with it. You and Eleonora need to change your friendship accordingly to how the two of you have grown recently."

"Wow." Enrique said breathlessly, whistling to show how impressed he was. "Why am I so ignorant when it comes to relationships, you make it look so easy to understand it." Oliver stuck his tongue out at the blonde and splashed more water at him, sending both into fits of laughter as they continued to mess around and finishing washing up.

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Wow, I finally got this done. Surprisingly, this was actually hard, so sorry it took so long. Hopefully the next chapter will be easier and out quickly. Please review, even to tell me off for taking so long.


	10. Chapter 10

Sorry so much for being a terrible, terrible person and leaving you hanging for such a long time again. I hope the fact that I keep coming back reassures you to my investment in this story.

But, you don't want to read me going on and on about my ridiculous excuses, so lets just get on with it, shall we?

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Enrique's feet hurt. He knew why, and he knew how he could relieve the pain, but he didn't. He had been pacing outside the cottage he had visited so often lately for about an hour, and had no intention of stopping. He knew he couldn't go to the door and knock until he knew exactly what he was going to say to Eleonora (which he had no clue about yet) and he couldn't go home otherwise it'd take ages to get the courage up again to come back (which this morning had taken a good three hours and lots of persuasion on Oliver's part). After his conversation with Oliver the other night, Enrique had put off attempting to restart his friendship with Eleonora for two days, before the French blader had swatted him over the back of the head this morning and began the three hour long persuasion to get him here. So here he was, pacing, too scared to go forward and too scared to go back.

"Enrique?" The blond turned to where his name had come from, in a voice he was sure he recognised but couldn't place. Standing a few meters away and carrying plastic bags laden with food was a tall, muscly man with messy brown hair and freckles sprinkled across his face. He had an easy smile and warm hazel eyes and Enrique instantly felt at ease with him, even though he was sure he didn't actually know him. "I thought it was you."

"Huh?" Enrique said while he was still processing who the man was. He quickly realised how rude and uncouth (as Robert would say) he sounded and hurried to rectify it. "Sorry, do I know you?"

"No, but I know you." The man said with a smirk, walking closer and putting his bags down so he can hold out his hand to Enrique. "I'm Sam."

Suddenly it all fell into place. This was Sam. Eleonora's Sam. The Sam she had met on the plane. That's why he recognised his voice, he had spoken to him on the phone once before. He shook his hand enthusiastically, glad to finally but a face to the name (being as social as he is, Enrique hates not being able to match the two). He returned the easy smile that had fallen back onto Sam's face and let go of his hand before the shake became awkward. They lapsed into the a surprisingly comfortable silence, Enrique expecting it to be awkward considering he just met the guy, but being around him was just so easy.

Sam bent and picked his bags up as Enrique went to bag to considering the cottage. He was actually rather surprised Sam was still around, let alone being domestic. Eleonora had a partiality for picking up partners when she was travelling. She didn't care for bars or clubs or dating sites, but when she was on a plane or a train and any form of transport she and the people around her came alive. She had even managed to pull a girl on a five minute bus ride once. The people were always different - different hair colours, different body types, different ages, different professions - but one thing was always constant; she never kept them around. Yet here Ben was, food shopping for the cottage, almost a month after Eleonora had met him.

A month. The thought took Enrique by surprise. He had been living in France with the Majestics for an entire month. With everything that's happened with Eleonora and their relationships the time has just flown by. It seemed like only yesterday they were moving their boxes into the big house and fighting over rooms. Now he thinks about it, even though everything seemed fine at the time, he can see now the frayed edges of their relationships that he had looked past in his bliss.

"Enrique?" Sam's questioning voice pulled his attention from his musings and back to the brunette, who was now a few steps closer to the cottage and looking back at him with a bemused smile. "Are you here to see El? I could trick her into seeing you if since she's being a cow, if you'd like." Enrique laughed openly at Sam's comment.

"Thanks, that would actually help." Sam nodded and finished walking to the cottage and dropping his bags again while Enrique looked up at the clear sky to get himself ready. He could spend hours planning some speech but he knew he was best when he was spontaneous, and being relaxed from his interaction with Sam could only help. A thud brought his attention back to the cottage and Sam, who he realised now had not dropped his bags to open the door, but clutch it to keep himself upright, which had now failed since he was kneeling on the ground and clutching his head in pain.

"Sam!" Enrique cried before he could stop himself and ran forward. He reached the doorstep and crouched down beside Sam, laying his hand gently on his shoulder. "Christ, what's wrong? How can I help you?"

Before Sam could answer the door flew open to reveal Eleonora stood in a loose top and underwear, obviously hearing the thud as well. She spared Enrique one confused and pained glance before she too fell to her knees and laid her hand on Sam's other shoulder. She lent forward and started whispering in his ear, getting a few nods to what Enrique assumed was questions, and Enrique was just left crouched beside them. Eventually she pulled away slightly and moved her hand to hold onto the top of his arm and turned to the Italian blader.

"Help me get him inside." She said, the pleading obvious in her eyes, though both knew he would help no matter how mad either of them were at each other. Some things were more important than fights.

-xxX-Xxx-

Johnny sat at the end of the guest bedroom's bed (he adamantly refused to see it as Robert's bed, no longer how long his boyfriend had stayed in it) and couldn't stop his hand from curling into a fist and crunching the paper held in it. He and Robert had been avoiding each other since the night when they had slept together, both scared of what was going happen since they couldn't stick to their plan. He had planned to spend the day hiding in his room and watching crap T.V. on his laptop, until Oliver had come barging in and preceded to hit him until he went to talk to Robert. So that led to Johnny sat in the empty room, holding the note Robert left him saying sorry and good bye.

If he was honest, Johnny wasn't actually surprised. How did he expect Robert, who barely knew the basics of human interaction, to react after Johnny had ignored him for the past few days. It didn't stop the pain though. And God was there pain. The note said the German only needed time to deal with things, but Johnny knew different. With Robert actually leaving, he felt the one last thread holding their relationship together tug and snap. They screwed up big time, and now they would have to suffer the consequences.

-xxX-Xxx-

Enrique hovered anxiously in the living room, unsure if he should stay or go. He and Eleonora had helped Sam to the couch and the girl was now fussing over him, bringing him a drink and some tablets, getting him to lie down, covering his legs with a blanket. Once he assured her for the tenth time that he was okay now, she finally backed away, although reluctantly, and motioned for Enrique to follow her into the kitchen. She shut the door behind them, obviously wanting some privacy, before turning to the blonde male but refusing to make eye contact.

"Thanks for helping." She said a little too quietly for Eleonora and Enrique was unsettled by it.

"I was just going to jog off when Sam was in pain." He said with a smirk and felt his heart jump when Eleonora smiled back. He hadn't realised until now how worried he was that he would never get to see her smile at him like that again.

"I know but...well, I've been a bitch to you lately..." Eleonora trailed off, and Enrique wasn't sure where the sentence had been going but when she turned away and began tidying the kitchen he knew he wasn't going to find out. He was very unsettled now.

One of the main reasons why Enrique and Eleonora had clicked when they were little was they were both the children charging forward at the head of the herd, sure of what they want and confident enough to go get it. When he first met Eleonora, at that stupid society gathering his parents had dragged him to when he was seven, it was her confidence and forwardness that had made him seek her out when his parents finally let him off his socialising duties. And then when she had thrown the glass of punch in his face because she didn't like what he said, something all the other girls his age he had met would never dare to do, he knew straight away she was worth being friends with. A sentiment she apparently agreed with since at the next party they were both attending, she came over to him almost immediately and just began talking as though they had been friends for years. She never did apologise for throwing the drink. Though, Enrique knows if she did, then she wouldn't be Eleonora.

"I don't know how to not have you in my life." Enrique said softly, but he knew she had heard him when she stopped fussing and stood almost frozen. However, she remained with her back to the Italian blader. "I'm not sure who I am without being your friend." At this, She did turn around, and her expression was a mixture of sadness and fury.

"Don't you see how wrong that is?" She said, her voice baring the same mix of emotions as her face. "You define yourself in terms of others. Do you even know who your are within yourself?" Enrique didn't answer, and they both knew he couldn't have even if he wanted to, because he had no answer to give.

* * *

OMG, I finally did it! Finally got this chapter done and uploaded (and within my own deadline). So sorry again for the wait.

I would usually say please review here, but even I don't think I deserve much more than a telling off for how long I've left people waiting.


	11. Chapter 11

Okay, getting back on track with more regular updates. I still can't give any definite idea of how many chapters there is left for this story, since even though I have the story planned, I'm not sure how it all fits together and as I write I'm constantly adding new scenes and little bits.

But, let's not get bogged down with all that now, just enjoy the new chapter as it is and look forward to more hopefully soon. Not much happens plot wise, its more of an introspective, descriptive chapter.

* * *

After his talk with Eleonora, Enrique didn't feel like returning home. So instead, he walked Paris. He wasn't too sure where he went, but he had spent enough time in Paris with Oliver to know he couldn't really get lost. He didn't usually see much appeal in sites and places he had already seen many times before, and with a storm of confusing thoughts brewing in his mind they were the last things he could be bothered with.

All Enrique could think about were Eleonora's words: _You define yourself in terms of others. Do you even know who you are within yourself? _And the more he thought about them, the more he got lost within them. The words made sense. How could anyone truly be someone if all they were were a sequence of responses to who other people were, but Enrique wasn't that was he? He knew exactly who he was. He was kind, and loving, and friendly, and fun to be around. He enjoyed spending time with his boyfriend, and his team, and his friends. He gave great advice, he loved being able to help people out, he...

He stopped still in the middle of the street, not even flinching when someone walked staright into his back and hurled a load of French curses at him, frozen in place. Because he realised now.

-xxX-Xxx-

Oliver knocked hesitantly at Johnny's closed door. It was late in the evening now and Johnny had stormed up here and slammed the door shut around midday after coming down at shouting at Oliver that Robert had left, throwing that upsetting note in his face in the process. He hadn't heard anything from the otherwise active and rambunctious Scott since then and he was rather worried. He had read the note and been thoroughly furious himself (how dare Robert just leave with only that for an explanation) and after finally asserting that Robert was on his way back to Germany from his sources he had furiously scrubbed the entire kitchen clean to distract himself and give Johnny some time alone. He had texted Enrique what had happened, though he hadn't expected any immediate response since he knew Enrique was trying to sort out his own messy relationship with Eleonora. Eventually his worry for Johnny got the better of him, and her he was outside his room (it used to be their room).

He got no response, though he expected none, so he tried knocking again, this time rather more deliberately and with more force. He tried knocking one more time before he carefully tried the door handle, and when he ascertained that Johnny hadn't locked the door, he gently pushed it open. His worry for the Scott was very powerful, but he still had his senses, so he didn't step into the room straight away in case the redhead threw any number of projectiles and his poor, delicate head. When nothing was thrown, he slowly padded into the room and frowned at the sight that greeted him.

The room was an absolute mess, even more so than usual for Johnny. Johnny was naturally untidy, and not having Robert there to pick up after him since they had been staying in separate rooms recently and meant the clutter and built up around the room quickly. But it wasn't the clutter that knotted Oliver's stomach. Small cabinets had been upturned, the drawers having fallen out in the process and spilled their contents all over the floor, and the desk chair was lying on its side on the opposite side of the bed from the desk that still held some of Robert's papers. Photos that had been hung on the wall by Robert and Oliver in a peaceful afternoon when their boyfriends had been out gallivanting around the city lay on the floor in a heap of twisted frames and broken glass. And Johnny (poor, poor Johnny) lay curled up in the fetal position on the bed that seemed all to big now with bloodied hands and a tear stained face.

Oliver crossed the room to the bed, careful not to tread on any glass or other dangers the ruined room now posed, and sat carefully next to his teammate, no, his friend, on the bed. He knew better than to try telling him he'd be alright or that it couldn't be that bad. Instead, he gently ran his fingers through the dark red hair and waited until Johnny let him know what he needed, letting his presence alone be at least some form of comfort.

-xxX-Xxx-

Robert found he couldn't sit still on his flight back to Germany. He had considered missing it and trying to walk off the unease he felt, but after missing the first one he had booked because he had been crying in the restrooms like a little child, he knew he had to get on this one. Or he might have never left Paris. He thought it would have been much easier than it was, to get on a plane and go home and give Johnny the time and space he deserved but Robert had selfishly kept from him over the past few weeks while they dealt with their relationship, but it wasn't. He could feel it flooding his mind, he couldn't focus on anything but the Scott, and it was tingling every bone, muscle and nerve in his body so his hands shook and his legs tapped and every inch of his skin tingled.

Eventually, he nearly jumped out of his seat and had to work so very hard to keep his pace normal as he walked to to the plane's restroom. He would not be uncouth in front of so many people. Luckily, the restroom was empty so entered straight away and just managed to stop himself from slamming the door behind. The second he heard the lock click closed, his public persona evaporated and he fell to the ground a shivering mess. He had messed up everything. He had ruined his relationship with Johnny because he couldn't deal with his emotions like a normal person and now he had run away like a scared dog.

He gave himself a moment to calm down and then pushed himself back to his feet. He didn't want to, but he couldn't hide in the cramped little room any longer. He slashed some water on his face to hide the red hue his skin had now adapted and made sure there was no evidence of his breakdown. As he fussed with his appearance he knew this was exactly the reason why the relationship had failed. Because he was so obsessed with his damn persona and what others thought and saw. But he couldn't help it. Everything he did he saw threw the shield his father had placed over his eyes when eh was young. Everything has to be considered and though out. Well, almost everything.

The only time the shield slips, the only time he feels like he can relax, is with Johnny, and slowly now with Oliver and Enrique as well. With Johnny, the Scott's energy and passion just pushes any other thoughts out of his mind. And lately his teammates have had a similar effect. He found himself and the rapid procession of etiquette thoughts almost constantly running through his head calmed by the French blader's ease and joy and enjoying things like media and socialising he never would have before once he saw the Italian's excitement with them. But it still wasn't enough. Not enough to make him relax properly, not enough to let him be normal, not enough to allow him to actually not mess up the only good relationships he's had in his life.

-xxX-Xxx-

Enrique frowned at his phone as he read the text Oliver had sent him again. He had texted back as soon as he had read that Robert had left to make sure Johnny was okay and let Oliver know he would be back soon. But Oliver had told him not to rush, so he hadn't. Now, outside that damn cottage again he was reconsidering not going back to the house. He was still worried about Johnny (even though Oliver had assured him he could deal with it for now) and, if he was honest, he wouldn't mind the excuse for putting off facing Eleonora again. Just like earlier that morning, he was nervous and not sure about going in, but unlike then, he did know exactly what he was going to say.

He shoved his phone into his pocket when he felt a sense of confidence and almost ran to the door, tripping on a step slightly. He righted himself on the door frame and hammered on the door. If he was going to do this, he's going to bloody do it now and do it well. The door opened and Eleonora stood there looking breathless. She had obviously ran to get to the door, and Enrique wasn't surprised with how he had been hammering on it.

"Enrique..." She began but he didn't let her finish. He shoved her backwards and stepped into the cottage, he wasn't let her kick him out till he had done this.

"You are an absolute bitch." He said, making sure there wasn't even a hint of anger in his voice. This wasn't about being angry or making her guilty or upset, this was about getting his point across for once. "You love telling me what I don't know about myself, but this i snot happening now. Because do you know what Eleonora? You don't know me better than I know me. You may have done a while ago, but not now. I've grown. I know myself better than I ever have and I know myself enough to know that what your saying isn't true. I am more than just a response to other people. You might not see it past you own damn issues, but I have changed. Yes, before that was true. But it's not now. It's still a large part of me, because I care about my family and my friends and my loved ones, but I am so much more than just that.

"I am an excellent beyblader. I trained and trained, alone and as a team, and I am the Italian champion and I compete internationally. That's all me. And I hate sport. And that is pretty fucking solo seen as everybody I seem to have in my life is absolutely, completely obsessed with it. I may not be smart or historically or culturally aware or whatever, but I have so much common sense and perceptiveness that it's dripping from my every pore. And let me tell you, with the teammates I have that goes a bloody long way considering how emotionally stunted they are. And do you know what? I think you need to take a look at yourself, because you are a bitch. You are a bitch for making me worry about things like this, and your bitch for making me have to explain myself and my actions. But most of all, you bitch for fucking doubting me!"

Enrique stood breathless after he finished his rant, panting hard and shaking slightly from the adrenaline. He felt guilty that he hadn't managed to keep the anger away at the end, but it couldn't be helped, it had to be done. Eleonora stood before him, frozen in place. He could barely even see she was breathing with how still she had gone, and her wide eyes were boring into his in complete shock. He felt a little proud at that, being able to shock her, but he also felt really guilty. A noise from the living room drew his attention, and he saw Angelo and Sam peering over the back of the couch at him, Angelo looking half amused and half furious and Sam so confused that he might collapse again. A movement out the corner of his eyes drew his attention back to the blond female, just in time to see her throw up all over his shoes.

* * *

Woo, another chapter done. I'm actually rather proud of this chapter, especially Enrique at the end. XD Hint, hint, the next chapter is gonna be a biggy, you're gonna learn everything that's going on with Eleonora, Angelo and Sam.


	12. Chapter 12

Right, I know this is again a while after my last chapter, but I swear I will always come back and this story will be finished.

As promised, this is the reveal chapter for Eleonora and her little band of men. Hope I've kept you waiting long enough that and kept it ambiguous enough that its effective ;)

* * *

"Oh God." Eleonora groaned as she lent against the wall for support and Enrique awkwardly moved out of the way as Angelo laid some towels down over the vomit and the soiled shoes the blader had kicked off. He felt rather disconcerted with the sudden turn in events. One second he had been ranting at his best friend and the next she was a shaking mess (and one of his favourite pairs of shoes were ruined). Sam moved to stand beside him and clapped him on the back.

"You okay, El?" He asked Eleonora, who had now slid to sit curled up on the floor.

"I've been better." She groaned quietly and looked up to Enrique and Sam with a pout. She moved slightly when Angelo swatted her gently so he could place the rest of the towels down and then he handed her a glass of water, which she drank quickly. She looked up at Enrique, who was still stood rather awkwardly next to her, and smiled slightly. It was a small smile that Enrique recognised, one he was used to getting from here, that she was both amused and exasperated by what he was doing. Enrique was surprised by how happy receiving that small little smile made him. It was like a symbol of their friendship, maybe everything was going to be okay.

-xxX-Xxx-

Eleonora laid back against the cushions of the couch with a long sigh as Enrique sat hesitantly beside her. Angelo gave him an encouraging smile from the entryway to the living room and tilted his head in his cousin's direction, telling Enrique to talk to her. He then turned and made way his back to the kitchen to help Sam with the coffee, jumping over the towels on the floor as he did so.

"Are you okay?" Enrique asked quietly, not too sure how to start, having lost all his confidence once Eleonora had covered his shoes in vomit.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said flippantly, waving her hand in the air to metaphorically brush away his concerns. She turned her head, where it lay back against the top of the couch, and smiled sheepishly at him. "I'm sorry I ruined your shoes, they were really nice." Enrique couldn't prevent the laugh that escaped him, trust Eleonora to notice how nice his shoes were when she was in the middle of throwing up on them.

"It's alright, it's not like you did it on purpose?" The Italian blader couldn't stop his statement coming out as a question. He knew the Italian girl well. He had seen some of the ways she had gotten back at people who had pissed her off and it wasn't too hard to imagine that she maybe had done it on purpose.

"Well, you did kind of deserve it. Shouting at me like that." Her voice held a chastising tone and she clicked her tongue at him, like Enrique remembered Eleonora's mother doing to her every time she had broken the rules as a child, but she was smiling and her eyes were bright and warm.

"I meant what I said." Enrique told her, settling back into the couch himself. His nerves had all disappeared once Eleonora had started treating him like her best friend again, like she used before everything went wrong when he moved to Paris. "I know you have a lot going on, but you can't take out on me, not when I'm your friend. Because I'm not letting you push me away no matter what." She smile grew even larger at his last words, which had come out rather broken in his attempt to make them sound light.

"I can see that now." Eleonora told him, the smile still stuck on her face. "And I'm glad." Enrique smiled back.

"Wow, you two are creeping me out with that smiling." Sam announced loudly as he came back into the living room carrying a tray of mugs, which he set down on the coffee table. "Take your time sorting out your stuff, me and Angelo will just be eavesdropping in the kitchen." He said with a wink and then went back to the kitchen. Enrique laughed again, unable to help himself. He just felt so light.

"He's not lying you know. They will be eavesdropping." Eleonora told him and then leaned forward to grab one of the mugs of coffee. She took a sip and then let out another long sigh, which confused Enrique, because he never though she actually liked coffee that much.

"We'll have to be nice and share loads of juicy gossip." Enrique said as he reached for his own mug, but most of his attention was still on the way the blond girl was savoring her own drink. "Though I suppose he gets all of it anyway since he's dating you."

Enrique jumped back when he said that and the hot liquid that Eleonora had been savoring was suddenly spat back out. She coughed a little and wiped her chin with the back of her hand to remove the coffee that had ended up there. Enrique passed her a few of the napkins that were on the tray the coffee had been brought in on and hoped she was going to throw up again. She doubled over and started making little wheezing sounds while she covered her mouth, and Enrique was terrified that she was crying. However, when she sat back up and threw the wet napkins on the table, he realised she wasn't crying, she was laughing. And while there were tears in her eyes, they were not there from sadness. Enrique was a little confused.

"Dating?" She said, shaking her head, once she had got her breath back. "Me and Sam?"

"Well, I know you had sex with him." Enrique snapped back, although there was no malice in his tone. He was very confused.

"That was just a hook up, not some beginning of a romantic comedy that ends with us happily in love."

"Then why is he still hanging around?"

"He and Angelo are sort of seeing each other." Eleonora said, taking another sip of coffee, She was almost completely composed again now, while Enrique was beginning to loose himself in confusion. Sam and Angelo were together, not Sam and Eleonora? When had that happened? How had it happened? "I was pretty confused at first, but they're good together and do like each other so I got over it."

"Wow." Enrique said before he could stop himself. That was a completely dickish thing to say. But Eleonora only smiled again.

"I know. It is a little hard to get your head round, but everything with me and Angelo usually is." Enrique had to agree with that. From them regularly wearing each other's clothes when they were little to them being comfortable enough to walk around naked in front of each other, Eleonora and Sam's relationship had always been hard for most people to understand, especially Enrique. Eleonora turned her attention back to her coffee and confused Enrique even more when she outright moaned at her next sip.

"Christ, El, it's only coffee. I mean, it's nice coffee, but it's not that good." Enrique told her, but before she could reply they were interrupted by a shout from the kitchen.

"You cheeky bastard!" Sam's voice came through the closed door clearly with how loud he was yelling. "My coffee is excellent!" Enrique and Eleonora couldn't hold back their laughter as hushed voices began arguing with each other behind the door.

"Told you they would actually be eavesdropping." Eleonora said through her laughter as the boys in the kitchen went quiet. "It's just that thing, you always want something more when you can't have it, or at least as much of it. Like with cigarettes now." Enrique made a questioning noise, having no idea what she was talking about, and Elonora raised her cup to him. "Coffee, you nitwit." The Italian blader ducked his head, feeling a little embarrassed by being distracted, but looked the blond girl straight in the eye with direct seriousness when he made his next question.

"Is that because of the medication your on?" He asked carefully, knowing he had to broach the final elephant in the room at some point. Eleonora leaned forward off the back of the couch at his question and tilted her head, her face showing the same confusion Enrique had been feeling for most of the conversation.

"What medication?"

"The tablets I found in your bag the other day, when I accidentally knocked it off the worktop." Enrique told her, still treading carefully, hoping she would fully comprehend what he said and not be angry again for thinking he went through her bag.

"Oh god, them." Eleonora said as realisation filled her face. "No, they weren't mine. Though if they were I would probably still be allowed to drink coffee. Still would have had to quit smoking though." The bitterness in her voice at her last sentence brought Enrique's attention to it.

"You've quit smoking?" He asked in shock. Eleonora smoking was a permanent fixture in his life, like Oliver painting, Johnny being angry or Robert being emotionally stilted. Eleonora nodded. "Why?" He had never minded her smoking. If he was honest, he would be smoking with her if he hadn't got into blading and avoided it in favour of keeping his health and fitness up. Eleonora has been smoking since she was sixteen and had never shown any desire to quit or any shame for doing what has now become a socially unacceptable and dangerous activity. As usual, Eleonora just doesn't care what anyone else thinks.

"It was the right time, I would have to stop for a while anyway so I thought why no just stop all together?" Eleonora said with an air of confidence and pride that Enrique felt comfortable with. This was the confident and direct Eleonora he grew up with, and he had missed her. "I mean, smoking can be so dangerous when you're pregnant."

Enrique nodded slowly, accepting her words as true, until he hit him what his best friend had actually just told him, and began spluttering and darting his eyes between the Italian girl's face and midriff.

"You're pregnant?" He asked, not sure how he should be reacting.

"Yep." Eleonora said, smiling brightly again. "I'm going to keep it."

"Wow." Enrique said rather breathlessly, suddenly finding himself exhausted from the major news. "That's amazing, congratulations."

"Thanks." Eleonora said joyfully, still with a large smile on her face. "This is what I was talking about, by the way. A big thing happening that made me reassess my life." There was a slight apologetic tone to her voice, telling Enrique that things between them were sorted now.

"Whose is it?" Enrique asked suddenly, realising that while there was a chance it could be Sam's, seen as it was around a month since he slept with Eleonora, his best friend had never been reserved sexually, so it could easily be someone else's. That though also brought back fond memories of his friendship with Eleonora, like that one summer when he and the blond girl slept their way through Europe, acting as each other's wingman. That memory was particularly fond, since their sex tour ended in France, and Enrique met Oliver, which had ended his casual sexual exploits. However, he had always been up for playing wingman for Eleonora whenever she needed it.

"Don't be mad..." Eleonora started carefully, and Enrique immediately felt worry and anxiety. "It's Carlo's."

"What!" Enrique barked out before he could stop himself. Whatever he would have expected, it definitely was not that. Not Carlo.

Carlo was the same age as Enrique and Eleonora and his parents had been a part of the same social circle as theirs' were. However, Carlo hadn't grown up with them like the other kids of their parents' friends had. Carlo had always been arrogant and vain and as such didn't bother to hang out with them or even so much as greet them at events. And when they got older, he did stop ignoring them, but rather than being friendly, he was instead antagonistic. A particular rivalry had developed between Enrique and Carlo over nearly everything, whether it was grades, sporting achievement or partners. Carlo got 100% once on an exam, and for the next few weeks Enrique nearly made himself ill studying so hard to get as high a grade in his next test, which he did. Enrique became the Italian champion for beyblading, and Carlo started working hard at tennis he was casually playing and managed the become the junior champion. When Enrique first brought Oliver to an event in Italy, everyone was fascinated by the French blader and all his abilities, and at all events since Carlo had brought the most fascinating person he could find.

"Look," Eleonora began, a clear warning tone in her voice which made Enrique reign in his reaction. "I know you have some issue with him, with that stupid contest thing you two have going, but he is a good guy. I've already spoken to him and he wants to be there for the baby, so I'm going to go back and were going to raise it together in Italy. Okay?"

Enrique nodded at Eleonora's question, knowing by her tone that she wouldn't take nay shit right now, though it was hard to move on. He couldn't even think when the two of them would have actually had sex for her to have gotten pregnant, since he was sure they only saw each other at events, and he didn't really want to know. This also meant that he would have to actually be around Carlo, and even be civil towards him, when eh went and visited Eleonora and the baby, which Enrique really didn't want to do. Although, he supposed he could suffer through for his best friend's sake.

"So, whose were the tablets then?" He asked, trying to distract himself from his silent seething over Carlo.

"There Sam's." Eleonora said quietly, a pinched expression coming to her face. "Remember when he collapsed the other day?" She asked, at at Enrique's nodding continued. "Well, he has this condition. I don't really understand it but it's not really that bad. I mean, it's not good, but it is manageable."

Enrique nodded again, mostly to himself this time, and went back to sipping at his coffee. By now, it was more lukewarm, so didn't taste too good, but Enrique needed something to do as he took in all the new information he had learnt today.

* * *

There we go, the truth behind Eleonora and her boys. This is the last chapter that Angelo and Sam will be featuring in, but Eleonora will be back before this story ends.

Sorry again this took a while, I am trying to get back into a routine for writing but with moving and other things happening I haven't really been doing anything. I will try really hard not to make you wit too long for the next instalment.


End file.
